Bleep Eclipse Hack

[BKeeper]

       

The short story:
The Bleep Eclipse uses adhesive “Halos” which are applied to one’s nostrils. These Halos have thin, flat steel rings surrounding round holes which align with your nostrils, through which one breathes. Magnetic pieces attach the very light Bleep mask to these Halos and make a nice tight seal.

My nostrils angle out to the sides, and the Bleep mask works better for nostrils that point in the same general direction. This causes, for me, discomfort and sore spots.

In trying to come up with a solution for me, I found that the magnetic connector in the Bleep mask is a hard plastic piece imbedded with little magnets, mounted into the softer plastic “arms” of the Bleep “mask”. I was pleased to find that this magnetic piece can be easily removed from the Bleep Eclipse mask. (See first photo)

Further, I found that this magnetic plastic piece can be inserted into my favorite “pre-Bleep” mask, the Resmed P-10! The marriage of these 2 masks results in a more flexible and much more comfortable fit for me that is a bit lighter and quieter! (See 2nd photo)

The longer story:
I’ve used a Resmed A-10 APAP for almost 9 years. I struggled with pressures of 16-18 and resultant issues with masks, leaks, mouth taping, chin straps, etc. The prior Bleep mask, the Dreamport, was a game-changer for me, which allowed me to titrate my Alaxo Soft Palate stent, and ultimately lower my necessary pressures to 4-5 (See BKeeper Therapy Thread - AlaxoStent).

I really looked forward to the Bleep Eclipse, with it’s promise of easier mask attachment and detachment, as well as considerably reduced volume of the Halos for travel. When I finally had the opportunity to try the Eclipse, however, I found that due to the outward angle of my nostrils, it was hard to attach the mask. I tried different mounting of the Halos to no avail. Some compensatory placement of the Halos resulted in sores from the metal rings digging into my septum.

The marriage of the 2 masks described above cured those issues for me. An old P-10 worked perfectly – no issue with an older cushion. The hard plastic magnetic piece fit perfectly into the P-10 cushion, which in this case was a size large. I slipped it in from the backside. Although it slipped in fairly easily, it is held very firmly by the P-10 cushion.

In the second picture, the P-10 mask is partially fitted with the Eclipse magnetic piece. You can also see that I clipped off the plastic stabilizers that the neoprene headgear slips on to. This makes for a “mask” that is even lighter than the P-10, and which has almost no leaks!

I’m a Happy (old) Boy!

[Nightynite]

That’s brilliant! I have a p10 that didn’t work for me.   Thanks for posting this. 

[Deborah K.]

That's great! For both my husband and I, the metal rings on the tape stuck out too far from the nostrils and often caused the tape to tear. Do you think your setup with the P10 would solve that?

[BKeeper]

Having the metal rings stick out too far sounds like another issue. I find I have to overlap the tape a bit in the center to get the openings centered on my nostrils. When I do this, the rings do not stick out so much to the side that they stress the tape. 

To do this without having tape cover a bit of one ring, I trim a bit of tape off of the inside edge of one the Halos. I think that this is a tip shown on the Bleep website.

Good luck. I understand that the owner of Bleep, Stuart, is very helpful and responsive to questions.

[zaienk]

Amazing hack, great share, thank you.
Do you think it can handle higher pressure without any leak? 4-5 is very low pressure and you wrote " almost no leaks" so my interpretration tend to be "already some little leak with very low pressure"?
I love the idea using P10 as I prefer the noise of the P10 and the fact P10 has less dead space. But with bleep I have 0 leak with pressure like 10 EPAP and 16 IPAP and I'm not sure that your hack will handle higher pressure without leak?

[BKeeper]

Zaienk, I have not run my Bleep/P-10 "mask" at higher pressures. It seems like if it did leak, it would be at the junction between the plastic piece containing the magnets, and the soft material of the P-10 cushion. Based on small mods I have done on the P-10 when I was running higher pressures, I am pretty confident that I could stop leaks there. If can help with suggestions, should that occur.

[BKeeper]

Oh - Zainenk, on your question re "almost no leaks";
I still partially mouth tape. Fortunately, not my entire mouth now. If I leave too big a gap without tape, I get some mouth leaks.

To my knowledge, the only leaks at the mask level are occasionally between the magnets and the metal ring on the Halos. I notice them when I first hook up the mask, and just reattach to eliminate.

[yankees123]

I have used the p10 hack since the beginning of my trials with the eclipse.  It works well but for me the dreamports are much more comfortable.

[Deborah K.]

Yeah, I too find the Dreamports more comfortable.  It's my husband who may want to try the Eclipse again.  That's why I was asking.  I have always trimmed the tape a bit where they overlap in the center.  I guess I have a narrow septum because the tape still overlaps, but not enough to cause problems.

Yankees, do you still use the P10 hack now that you are back with the Dreamports?  If so, does it make it easier or more comfortable?  Like Bkeeper, I am one whose nostrils slant upward, so maybe the hack would be more comfortable with the Dreamports too.

[yankees123]

Hi Deborah, I only used the p10 hack when I was trying the eclipse.I don’t think it can work with the dreamports.  The dreamports don’t pull on my nose at all and I get no leaks.  I really wanted the eclipse to work but like you the shape of my nostrils is the problem.