I started CPAP with heated humidifier Monday night.  My face has gotten more red each night, it feels like I have a sunburn.  I think it's because of the heated humidifier.  What is this red splotchy stuff on my face? Does this sound like a legitimate cause?  Can you get a cool mist humidifier with CPAP?

Help!

If you have the heat on the humidifier cranked way up try turning it down. You will get less humidity but perhaps the redness will go away. Personally I found I was getting itchy under the mask area and needed to turn the humidity up a notch to alleviate that.

Perhaps the tightness of your mask may also have something to do with it.

As I go along with my own experience here I am learning that getting the setup right requires a certain amount of trial & error, patience and determination to proceed.

I also find viewing the numbers each morning very encouraging simply in that I know the therapy is having an effect. I do know I am feeling a difference.

what type of mask? Full face or nasal.

Is the redness just around where the seal is on your face?

Does it feel like "sunburn" after the mask is off?

Sometimes,  the mask can cause friction from just breathing normal. Breathing can cause slight movement and just having the mask on your face can cause irritation of the skin. Make sure you clean the seal with soap and water as sometimes a little dirt from several uses can build up and effectively make it like sand papper against your skin. After all it is a synthetic material pressed to your skin for up to 8 hours a night.
I dont think it would be the humidifier, although depending on your area of the world and if you dont have a wood burning stove in your house you dont need that level to high...

I can suggest getting something called Cann-ease. It is a moisturizer that is used for nasal dryness. But it is safe to use around the edge of your mask and will not damage the seals, and it has aloe in it so its good for your skin as well  
Pick up some of that and put it around the seal where its touching your face.

Also anyone using nasal pillow masks should try the Cann-ease too, I noticed that with my nasal pillows my nose started to burn. It helps.

And you can use cool pass on the humidifier, just put cold water in the chamber and leave your humidifier off. On hot summer nights I have even put some ice cubes in the water tray. I found a nice ice cube tray at Wallmart, it makes ice cube in the shape of a cylinder. This is so you can put ice cubes into a water bottle, nearly the same size hole as my humidifier opening. If your humidifier is up too high you can get moisture build up in the mask and get a drip that can actualy wake you up too. So it is a bit of trial and error as far as that goes.

I hope this helped
Sorry for any spelling errors or run on sentances Im just getting off a 12hr shift 3rd day in a row. Im beat.
Have a good weeked all!!!



Last edited by RemKeeper on Sat Sep 20, 2008 10:23 am; edited 2 times in total
_________________
Im a PSGT with OSA
Dx 4-15-08
14.0cwp
Resmed mirage micro
It was strange to have a co-worker watching me sleep
"I hope I dont have a fart arousal"
Did I say that out loud?

I'm wondering if the redness is caused by an allergic reaction to the the material of the mask innerface?  If the redness continues after trying the other suggestions, then you might look into the possibility of an allergy to plastic (or whatever the innerface is made of).


_________________
OSA Sleep Test 8/29/07, AHI 64/Sat. 74%
Titrated 10/1/07 and 9/30/08
BiPAP Auto M Series w/Humidifier 15/10cm
OptiLife Mask; Ruby chinstrap


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Hi.  Okay.. It is a full face mask.  It's the newer one with comfort gel.  I just put it in the bag and left the room, hubby is still sleeping in there, so I'll have to look later at the brand if it is important to know.
The redness is on my entire cheeks.  It feels like a sunburn when I'm not wearing the mask, and probably when I am too, but I'm to busy fussing with it to notice my cheeks.  lol
My sister owns a water store and I use the store's water cold from the fridge-mate.  MAybe the water going from cold to hot while on my face is the cause?  I hadn't thought of that before.  
I live in Nevada now (dry desert).  But I used to live in the midwest (high humidity).  
I usually don't have allergies to materials, but come to think of it, my facial skin has always been pretty sensitive.
My machine is 6-8 inches below my bed and I have a bad case of dry mouth so there's no water, saliva, or even snot getting on my face or mask presently.  

Thank you all for your replies!

Respironics makes that mask,

And I would try some Cann-ease, just put some around the edge of the seal that touches your face. Have you cleaned it lateley? When you do what do you use and is if fully washed off, I have seen from time to time people missing spots of soap or whatever they are useing and then putting the mask back on some might still be on there? (Im not trying to say your a slob    it just happens sometimes)

I dont see how the humidifier can cause a sunburn like irritation on your cheeks and the only thing I can think of off hand is maybe friction however small can cause some irritation.

Also is there a reason you use a FF mask? Did your titration study tech say you were mouth breathing?


_________________
Im a PSGT with OSA
Dx 4-15-08
14.0cwp
Resmed mirage micro
It was strange to have a co-worker watching me sleep
"I hope I dont have a fart arousal"
Did I say that out loud?

I've cleaned it once with water only just to make sure it hadn't gotten dusty.  It stays dry all night.

Respironics sounds right.

In May I had brain surgery and they did the surgery through my nostril.  "Intranasal Transphenoidal...."  It's supposed to be non-invasive (as if that were possible for brain surgery!).
They put a lot of packing in my nose during the surgery.  
When I couldn't make it in for my post-op appointments with the surgeons I spoke to them on the phone quite a few times.
They never did tell me that they had packed my nose and I didn't know what was going on.
I found out when I finally went to a local ENT about the packing and that it had dried out and hardened.
I have to use a bunch of nasal spray everyday to keep it moist and there is still packing in my nose that needs to loosen and break down to get out.
I've spent hours with the local ENT getting my nose "professionally picked" as we call it.
During the study I could barely get any breath in or out my nose, occasionally that is the case...Since the surgery anyways.  That's also why I have dry mouth (breathing through my mouth while sleeping).
I should have let them cut my skull from my scalp.  If only had known the troubles to follow with my nose!

No, you shouldn't have let them cut thru your skull. You SHOULD have set aside everything else to KEEP your post-op appointments. My mother had similar surgery, thru the nose to get to a benign meningioma on the pituitary in her case. But, what is done, is done. No sense looking back w/the "wish I hads" and "what ifs". I would think the humidification w/the CPAP might well help w/getting the last of the packing to loosen and break down so it can be gotten out. But I would think that nasal pillows would NOT be the way to go to accomplish that. Better a full face mask or even a nasal cushion mask if the healing from surgery will allow that. Less direct air pressure into the nasal passages than w/the nasal pillows and yet every bit as much humidity as you can tolerate w/o "rain out".


_________________
Some people are like Slinkies... Not really good for anything, but they still bring a smile to your face when you push them down a flight of stairs.
Resmed VPAP Auto. Humidaire 3i, Simplicity & Micro masks, ResScan 3.4, S8 ResLink, Embla oximeter.

I would have set aside everything to get to make appointments with the surgeons.  Unfortunately I was to ill to travel the distance, and still am.  My health prevents me from getting back over there.   My surgery was done about 300 miles away.  It doesn't sound like much, I know, but it is too far for me.

One upsetting thing about that is that I remained in the hospital for a while after the surgery and they came to visit me everyday and could have done post-op checks on me before releasing me but didn't.

They also stopped being providers under my medical insurance and didn't bother telling me that either.  They stopped 2 days before my surgery was done, I had already been in their hospital for 3 days for other problems.  They dropped my insurance after the first day.

That's a whole other chapter.. not exactly appropriate for the topics of this forum.  Frustrating nonetheless.

I get a red mark next to my nose, but it's from irritation I think of the mask I think. It tends to go away by mid day during most of the time. I use extra makeup on that section in the morning.


_________________
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ResMed S8 Elite / ResMed Quattro Mirage full face mask
Pressure 19
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Life is something that happens when you can't get to sleep.
Fran Lebowitz

Hello. Sorry to hear you are having trouble with your humidifier. I just started using a heated one myself (I have used the cool humidifier for almost 3 years and just switched over). FWIW, I doubt it is the humidifier. It sounds like you are describing steam burns, wich you would most definitely feel in your nasal cavities way before on your skin! Personally, I think the above posts are correct, it sounds more like the mask rubbing on your skin or maybe air leaking and irritating the surrounding skin (used to happen to me before I knew how to adjust my mask).

I lowered the amount of humidity and the redness cleared up.  The pain from it was gone that night.
I'm going to have to believe that it was the heat (my nose doesn't have much capability of feeling anymore)-
heatrash
OR
some kind of windburn from the pressure (my mask is too big, I'm going to try to exchange it).

I wish I had a cool mist humidifier, I hate heat.

Just turn off the humidifier and put ice in the water. There are these cool icecube trays I got at wall-mart that makes ice that fit into a water bottle opening, they are the same size as most cpap humidifier water/hose ports. I use ice in the winter time, I dont like the heat either.


_________________
Im a PSGT with OSA
Dx 4-15-08
14.0cwp
Resmed mirage micro
It was strange to have a co-worker watching me sleep
"I hope I dont have a fart arousal"
Did I say that out loud?