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First off - when I get it right, it is so comfortable, so un-mask-like that it almost disappears. I also get a full-face effect from my heated hose and humidifier - like being tropical, as if the whole room has warmed. Absolutely fabulous!
BUT - leaks! How to stop them? The mask is wider than the wearers head and the strap fix-points are wider still - so any tightening causes a taughtened bow effect and the mask tends to lift on the vertical centre-line of one's forehead and - whoosh! Even someone with a head that perfectly matches the mask in curvature and width will get this effect because the strap fixings are wider than the mask and thus your head. A very careful and precise balance is required to get the strap just tight enough to hold a seal when the mask rises as air pressure comes on - and that pressure is acting on a very large surface area inside the mask! - and not over-tightening and distorting the mask profile.
The chin strap adjustment is easier except get it a little too tight and the mask pivots somewhere on your face and the mask rises off your forehead - whoosh!
OK - so you get it just right, laying on your back. Turn onto your side, just the slightest nudge on one of the strap fixing point "wings" and - whoosh! Every part of your head in front of your ears needs to be off the pillow - or else - whoosh!
Having said all that, I must have slept because the night went quickly and I feel refreshed this morning - after two nights with this new mask. However, a fitting session in front of the mirror this morning showed up a few required adjustments and the subsequent laying-down trial went very well - on my back. And then on my side - brilliant! Until I caught a "wing" on the pillow and - whoosh! Easily corrected by tucking the seal back in under the mask shell - when you're awake.
It has to be worth persevering because the mask is so damn comfortable.
Possibly a little large overall for travel compared to standard full face masks. It comes in two sizes - small and large. I reckon the large is actually a medium in that it is barely big enough for me - though that is true of a lot of things.
And what am I waffling on about???
A Respironics FitLife mask.
Thanks buildone!!
TF
BUT - leaks! How to stop them? The mask is wider than the wearers head and the strap fix-points are wider still - so any tightening causes a taughtened bow effect and the mask tends to lift on the vertical centre-line of one's forehead and - whoosh! Even someone with a head that perfectly matches the mask in curvature and width will get this effect because the strap fixings are wider than the mask and thus your head. A very careful and precise balance is required to get the strap just tight enough to hold a seal when the mask rises as air pressure comes on - and that pressure is acting on a very large surface area inside the mask! - and not over-tightening and distorting the mask profile.
The chin strap adjustment is easier except get it a little too tight and the mask pivots somewhere on your face and the mask rises off your forehead - whoosh!
OK - so you get it just right, laying on your back. Turn onto your side, just the slightest nudge on one of the strap fixing point "wings" and - whoosh! Every part of your head in front of your ears needs to be off the pillow - or else - whoosh!
Having said all that, I must have slept because the night went quickly and I feel refreshed this morning - after two nights with this new mask. However, a fitting session in front of the mirror this morning showed up a few required adjustments and the subsequent laying-down trial went very well - on my back. And then on my side - brilliant! Until I caught a "wing" on the pillow and - whoosh! Easily corrected by tucking the seal back in under the mask shell - when you're awake.
It has to be worth persevering because the mask is so damn comfortable.
Possibly a little large overall for travel compared to standard full face masks. It comes in two sizes - small and large. I reckon the large is actually a medium in that it is barely big enough for me - though that is true of a lot of things.
And what am I waffling on about???
A Respironics FitLife mask.
Thanks buildone!!
TF
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