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Something to avoid.

Posted by Aussiegal on April 16, 2004 at 22:31:29:

Dear All,

Thought I would mention my latest CPAP "adventure" as a cautionary tale for others.

About a week ago I woke with what I thought was a minor eye irritation, possibly due to some air escaping from the mask and blowing into my eye at sometime during the night. Leaks usually waken me, but this one did not. I ignored the problem thinking it would settle in a day or so, but it did not......by day three it was pouring tears, and after a visit to my own local doctor, and then a three hour wait in the local ER of our Eye Hospital, it was confirmed that I had an erosion of the cornea. A very painful condition, probably caused by a draught of air drying the surface of the eye, and then the surface sticking to the inside of the eyelid, so when I woke, the cornea tore slightly. The treatment was to cover the eye for 24 hours, antibiotic ointment initially, then "tear like" drops many times per day to keep the eye moist. In addition I must now use a more oily ointment before sleeping, for the next three months.

This condition takes a minimum of 6 weeks to heal completely, and during that time there is a risk that it may reoccur when you wake and open the eye, and you are back where you started. So far it is feeling OK again, and my fingers are crossed that it will remain so. By the way, when gardening some time ago, I was poked in the eye by an unseen stick, and suffered a significant scratch on the cornea - that took about 12 months to heal, with multiple episodes of recurrent erosion, so I am not taking this present episode lightly!

Mask leaks really matter, in more ways than the obvious one of not getting the correct pressure and appropriate treatment - so take care.


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