Surgical masks?

That is why I wear a N95 with straps behind my head while in the office. I don’t take my mask off in between patients but only while eating lunch in my private office with the door shut. If I am just walking around the office and am not close to patients or staff, I’ll throw on a KN-95 with ear loops.

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I remember early in the pandemic seeing pictures of all the hospital workers with deep impression marks around their mouths and noses at the end of the day and thinking to myself, “Wow that looks painful.” But, is it pain or just a matter of cosmetics? I only wear mine to the grocery store so it’s not an issue - yet.

The impression marks aren’t painful. I don’t even know they are there unless I look in a mirror. It is like having impression marks around your ankles from socks.

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They come in 3 sizes.

My husband finds them painful

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How painful a mask is, on the face, ears, or head, is directly related to how well it fits. Different things will bother different people, but for fit, necessitating excessive tightness isn’t ideal.

Thank you, thank you, thank you!

Whoops, may have responded to the wrong message but same poster. Thank you, @eyemgh!

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Oops…Korean again!

KF94 is a certification or approval by a Republic of Korea government agency. KN95 is a standard in the People’s Republic of China. They are roughly similar to each other and N95 in filtration. But fit is highly important when choosing masks for self-protection, so that there are not gaps that air and virus can go through to avoid being filtered by the mask (the problem with the way most people wear surgical-type masks, without the “mask hacks” to close the gaps on the sides).

I’m not a doctor but the N95 is the most comfortable mask I’ve worn since the beginning of the pandemic. The molded material allows it to project outward and away from my nostrils so that I don’t feel as though I’m being smothered. I imagine the KN95 is similar but with the trade-off being ear loops versus head straps. I feel like the head straps help with my glasses not getting foggy. The real test will be once the weather gets warmer. I’m one of those people who refuses to keep pulling my mask off and on all day as I go shopping and will wear it walking outdoors.

Twice I had to delete links on this thread. English-language websites please. I am fluent in many languages, but Korean is not one of them.

Seems that pages like Etiqa KF94 Round Basic(Medium-White) — KollecteUSA have the ordering portion in English and the description in Korean, and this forum’s software pulls a preview from the Korean part of the page. This is despite going to the product page through the English main page https://kollecteusa.com/ (versus the Korean main page https://kollecte.com/ that you get when clicking the Republic of Korea flag).

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@eyemgh fixed it once….betting he can do this again.

I tried to fix it and I can’t. But both @eyemgh and @oldmom4896 are posting links from the same site

I’ll leave it. When you click the link, it does bring up the site in English.

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After my first mistake, I made sure I posted the English links. It must pull the Korean preview as the only option.

In any case, Kollecte is in Los Angeles. They import many Korean products, including masks. Anyone who is interested can pull it up and search for KF94 masks. :+1:

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A few comments from reading the thread, as though retired now, I worked with Covid hospitalized patients till the end of September.

N95s for medical use prior to Covid were fit tested carefully to not allow any seepage. If you failed the test or had facial hair, you were put in a PaPR, which is a whole head ventilation device. These N95s do hurt, depending on the size of your head, can bruise and leave deep marks. Initially in the pandemic we only used N95s for aerosolizing procedures. With a face shield of course. Initially we kept them in paper bags or a clamshell sandwich container with airholes, carefully placed to not contaminate the clean side between patients. Over time, when it was finally acknowledged that Covid is aerosolized, not just in droplets, the efficient staff wore N95s all the time, covered with a surgical mask between patients. My head is big, and it was too painful for me to not remove them on exiting a room and switch to a surgical mask. We kept these masks, and reused for about 5 days, though some institutions had staff wear them longer.

Recently someone gave me some N95s ordered via Amazon, and they were so soft, thinner, yet the facial seal was good. I was thrilled. Reading this thread, I am now guessing they are fake? Still, they are a complete seal, unlike any surgical mask.

At work I used the Halyard orange level 3 masks which come with a foam strip across the top to both seal and prevent glasses fogging. I adore these masks, and again, used a single mask for multiple days early in the pandemic with a face shield, being coughed on by Covid patients. My co workers and I lived through this for the most part sans illness. I carefully saved them over my final month or two of work, so I’d have a home supply. Having reused masks with infected patients, I have a hard time tossing a non visibly soiled mask. I am miserable in any other mask, and the blue level one masks feel inadequate.

On Amazon last week I was thrilled to find the Halyard orange level 3 masks for sale, $15 or so per box of 40. The box and masks are identical to what I used at work. There are various sellers. Hopefully they are not fake?

Regarding mask fit, and ear soreness, we survive in the hospital by using caps with buttons or sewing buttons onto fabric head bands, and ear loops go around the buttons to save our ears. Buttons could be sewn on a baseball cap with an upholstery needle or sewn on some other sort of men’s hat.

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If Amazon was the seller and not just doing the fulfillment, they are authentic. Amazon is an authorized distributor for both 3M and Halyard. :+1:

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I am also a big fan of the KF94 masks. They are comfortable, it is easy to breathe when wearing one, the fit is very good for me, and they are not aesthetically dreadful. It is helpful to see these suggestions regarding specific brands.

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I have bought 3D Savewo masks from Mikoplace.com. I find them very comfortable and Aaron Collins rated them highly. It’s the mask he wears at his workplace.

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