Considering Dreamwear. Cushions or pillows? Your thoughts?

[holden4th]

I've found that any air issues are down to the positioning of the pillows. I've never had any problems with the cushion mask and occasionally I wake up needing to adjust the position of the pillows slightly. I think that this is something that Philips could work on (they probably are).

[Sheepish]

I like the Dreamwear, especially its headtop hose connection, which helps alleviate the Snufflupagus factor of most other masks.





It sometimes gives you the feeling it's leaking, but Sleepyhead data shows it isn't. I have the cushion version and after a brief initial period of columella-philtral angle soreness,



for which you can use Lansinoh,



...it's comfortable and stays in place well, even for a side sleeper like me. I haven't tried the nasal pillows with it yet, but I might. The main downside is the nasal exhaust port blasts a cold airstream, which they could improve by giving it a diffuser like on the P10 or the Brevida.

[Kryogen]

oh wow, full face is the worst thing ever compared to a nasal mask. no way I'm sleeping with that.

[Sheepish]

oh wow, full face is the worst thing ever compared to a nasal mask. no way I'm sleeping with that.

  The DreamWear is not a full face mask.

[OpalRose]

I purchased a DreamWare Nasal mask about a year ago.  I did like the hose at the top, but a couple things...
It’s noisy compared to a P10 which is what I’m used to, and laying on my side was near impossible as the pillow would get pushed out of place, plus felt the air was restricted on the side I was laying on.

When the Gel Pillow came out, I ordered one and was surprised to feel how comfortable it was, and I could lay on my side without it moving.  But.....the noise is just too much.  

I believe for those of us who are used to the P10 and the silence of this mask, that the DreamWare just doesn’t compare because of the noise.

But back to the question here....the DreamWare Gel Pillows are much better than the Nasal version.

[Fats Drywaller]

Reading this thread has been interesting for me, because of the divergence of opinions about whether the cushion works OK when side-sleeping.  I got a Dreamwear recently and I chose the cushion at first because this time I wanted to avoid having any prong-y protuberance into the nostrils if possible (even though I use and like a Brevida).  But it turned out to be no good at all for me: way too many annoying leaks.  And I did have the S, M, and L sizes of cushion on hand.  Size S turned out to be best for me, but still not good enough.  So I switched to the gel-pillows nosepiece, and that works like a charm: I'm able to sleep on my side, flip from side to side, and so on, with no leaks.  The noise is another matter, but I'll add to a different Dreamwear thread to babble about that and everything else about the mask.

So here's a conclusion for anyone who is thinking of getting this mask:  You'll really need to try both and decide for yourself!  (Isn't that helpful?  You're welcome.)  However, do take into account the large number of people who have said that the Dreamwear cushion (the one without the gel protuberances) leaks when side-sleeping; in my experience, that is true.  The same frame and headgear (headgear consisting of only one strap) are used in both cases.  But be aware of the different frame sizes available, which I'll also talk about elsewhere.  Anyway, you just snap out one nosepiece and snap in another one, and that way you can switch back and forth easily between cushion and protuberant pillows, and switch from one size of pillows to another.

For relatively low prices on Dreamwear components, you could look on Amazon as usual, or if you have a favorite in the Supplier List, by all means use that.

Edited to add:  Just noticed this in another thread.  TYVM to Shin Ryoku for this:

It's not necessarily the same size.  I use the small cushion but the medium pillows.

The cushion sizing guide is here: https://www.sleepapnea.com/documents/Dre...-Guide.pdf

The pillows sizing is based on fit: https://www.sleepapnea.com/products/mask...-right-fit

[illawarrior]

The Dreamwear mask is by far the most comfortable I have tried, but alas, too noisy, and leaks too much when lying on one's side, and that goes for both cushion and pillow.

[Fats Drywaller]

The Dreamwear mask is by far the most comfortable I have tried, but alas, too noisy, and leaks too much when lying on one's side, and that goes for both cushion and pillow.

With the gel pillows, have you tried the different sizes? There are three. I get zero leaks with the GPs but many leaks with all three sizes of cushion.

[illawarrior]

Yes I tried all three sizes, perhaps I need a different sized nose?

[Fats Drywaller]

Yes I tried all three sizes, perhaps I need a different sized nose?

Lately, because I'm going through the initial search for a mask that works well and I've been trying all sorts of stuff, I've been wondering why there aren't ISO standards for human nostril sizes. Metrics, you know? Because if I try one brand of mask and pillow/cushion/whatever and find that I take size M, that doesn't do me any good when I switch to another brand and might need size S or L.