Best wipes for cleaning and disinfecting

[SarcasticDave94]

You'll have to forgive the skepticism, but there's lots of Apnea patients here on this forum alone that have to fight against the doctor, the DME, and insurance continually just to get minimal acceptable care for Apnea treatment. And the percentage that actually get what they need is a fraction of all that actually need some sort of Apnea treatment. Most that self fund will be fine. The rest of us, not so well.

Insurance dictates the doctor's answers despite test results indicating another direction. Just as one example. Almost all PAP machines will be set to default pressure. Open the box, hand you the forms to be signed as they need to cash in, here's your PAP, pat your head, go and use it for compliance, see the assistant in a month or so, again for compliance. All while hoping defaults on an Auto CPAP will do something so you the patient will keep using it. That is how most Apnea patients are really treated by the highly skilled doctors.

You may find that your trusted supplier sounds to have some conflict of interest. Being the RT and DME owner are the same person is not the best setup conducive to treating your therapy needs the best possible way.

You have to realize you're the Apnea patient not the doctor now. Likely, your medical training counts very little now as you yourself must play by the rules of Apnea patient, meaning you don't know what you're talking about. Your complaints and symptoms will get ignored. This is how it works, according to the sleep and pulmonary doctors, DME's, insurance.

If you do not self advocate on machine choice, carefully selecting pressures, monitoring with OSCAR, and taking on a high level self advocacy, you're in for a very rude awakening. You'll be treated badly by you doctors and RT, DME, your PAP will be selected for which means the most profit not success, and so on.

[onlyconnect]

I'll second the baby-wipes thing (Huggies is my choice) for daily mask clean. Those things are crazy good cleaners for all sorts of things, not to mention also good for a quick personal freshen-up.  Once a week, a good antibacterial hand soap wash seems to do the trick.  Dont forget to wash/wipe the headgear straps too, they do eventually get oily etc.

I've read NOT to use antibacterial soap on CPAP equipment since there's a chemical that does harm to the masks, etc. I avoid antibacterial soaps in general for several reasons, but that goes way beyond the scope here.

[Big Guy]

I've been using Clorox Anti-Bacterial wet wipes. They do a great job on my mask and cushion. I also use one on the connector on the end of the air hose. 

They do have a slight aroma to them, but it dissipates quickly.

[Melman]

I use whatever dish-washing detergent my wife buys. Sometimes it's antibacterial and sometimes not. I haven't noticed any adverse effect on my components and I used the same cushion for two years and have used the original frame for almost 5 years.

[Kadenz]

The best way to clean your mask is to use mild soapy water. 

Far more effective than wipes and (in my experience) eliminates the problem of sore nose bridges.

And happily, it's a darn sight cheaper than buying masks.


But please note the MEMORY FOAM mask that you can use with the F20 should be cleaned with a wipe and NOT with water.

[Big Guy]

I'm just going on record to state that the Clorox Anti-Bacterial wipes do not harm the cushion and/or mask in any way. 

Been using them now long ago that I would have noticed it the reverse were true.