CPAP Mask Getting On Your Nerves? Maybe It's Time For Retirement

by Carrissa Hankins, MSN, APRN, FNP-C, Hello Sleep Health & The Sleep NP LLC

CPAP masks (and the cushions that go on them) are designed to be used and replaced.

They have a tough job because they have to balance between sturdy enough to give you a good seal but not so sturdy that your face looks like its been in through the washing machine overnight.

While manufacturers of CPAP devices and masks have published recommendations for how often mask parts need to be replaced...

Not everyone follows those recommendations.

I once had a patient who had lived through The Great Depression. One of her goals with her CPAP was not to throw anything away if it possibly had the slightest shred of life left in it.

We went round and round trying to figure out why her mask was leaking on some nights but seemed OK on others.

Turns out she had no less than 8 cushions (some of them were a couple years old) that she was circulating between. Once she had a big enough pile of cushions to be washed, she'd bring them downstairs and batch the cleaning.

The lesson here is 2-fold

First, it's tempting to have multiple cushions at play all at once. The problem with never retiring any cushions is how impossible it can be to figure out which ones have aged out and which ones are still good enough to use. You probably won't know until you apply the air and try to sleep.

Insurance and DME vendors often give a 3 month supply. It's not so you can use all 3 at the same time, though. It's to save the hassle of sending you one at a time.

The second lesson is...

CPAP Masks & Cushions Wear Out

It's a fact of life. The more you use something, the more likely it is to wear out.

It works that way with cars, shoes, and toothbrushes. It should be no surprise that a mask that's used all night every night (ideally) would (at some point) need to be replaced.

How often to replace mask parts is not always as simple as following a schedule.

It got thinking about this question recently and decided to make a little YouTube video about it.