So on the 26th March 2017 I had voice surgery at Yanhee Hospital in Bangkok, Thailand. The procedure was called a Feminization Laryngoplasty and was performed by Dr. Ornouma Sriwanishvipat. The procedure cost 100,000 Thai Bhat (3700 Australian Dollars or *roughly* 2000 British Pounds - I'm British but i live in Australia lol
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So what was my experience of the surgery, recovery and results like?
Well on the day of the surgery I wen't to Yanhee Hospital for the consultation with Dr. Ornouma. there she performed several tests to analyse the pitch of my voice pre op - it was 125hz which is right in the middle of the male frequency range i was told.
she then ran through the expected results and risks involved with the procedure. There were several risks, some just general risks of surgery and many were a consequence of if you got an infection (fortunately i did not).
So the procedure itself involved a small incision in the neck along a natural skin fold so hopefully the scar will be unnoticable ( the position of my scar is great but it has yet to fade so still very visible ). The Front of the voice box (larynx) is removed and reshaped/made smaller. The Vocal cords are then stretched and about half of their length is removed. Then everything is put back together and if all has gone well you will have a new voice
After the surgery for 2 days my head was fixed in a somewhat uncomfortable forward position and I was not allowed to speak for 1 week following the procedure. My throat was incredibly uncomfortable or those first 2 days. Swallowing anything, even liquids, was especially hard during that time.
I was warned beforehand during the consultation that when i was finally allowed to speak that at first the pitch of my voice would actually be too high at first but would come down to a normal female pitch as healing too place. So when the day came I was finally able to speak I was very excited....
Only to find that making sound was so hard at first i could barely even make one syllable and yes the pitch was extremely high. I was actually very worried on that first day lol. It really was massively effortful to make even the quietest and poorly controlled of sounds.
Fortunately this didn't last longer than about 24 hours and the following day I was able to make sound at will. It was still extremely high pitched and the voice quality sounded like i had a bad cold but it was lovely having a voice that was absolutely nowhere near the male range. It was a funny experience being questioned upon returning to Australia though. answering the customs officials question in what sounded like the voice of a cartoon character
Over the next few weeks, as explained before the operation, the pitch of my voice came down to a normal female range. Again it is explained during the consultation that this will happen. that there will even be fluctuations during the healing (which there were but only mild to be honest ). They even have a helpful chart to illustrate waht they mean when they are explaining this to you.
For a long time it still sounded a fair bit croaky like i had a cold but it was unmistakably female. it has only been very recently (maybe the last week, 7 weeks post op) that resonance has returned to my voice and it doesn't sound like a have a cold anymore. It is amazing not to have to put any kind of effort into my voice anymore and i was never very good at modifying my vocal pitch manually anyway to be honest. I thought i was, until i heard a before and after recording and realized how far off i used to be. Like i pass just fine but my voice was always the thing that gave me away. Now it's not even a concern.
There are downsides though to this procedure. And i mean outside of the normal risks etc.
Like while my comfortable speaking pitch is now amazing my vocal range is incredibly narrow. fine for speech but i doubt i will ever be able to sing again (was something i was aware of beforehand and to me its a small price to pay). However i'm not sure if this is just something that will get better in time or not. the reason i say this is that when initially my voice was incredibly high pitched it was a case where i had like absolutely no pitch control whatsoever so everything was just monotone really. very quickly afterwards i regained enough pitch control to express speech more naturally and now i have totally unhindered speech but just lack the range to create musical notes of any real description.
The other thing i notice at present is that my voice can become tired. at first this would happen after a very short time. like around 2-3 minutes of conversation would render my vocal muscles exhausted. Now, 7-8 weeks after the operation i can manage 30 minutes to 1 hour of conversation before i start to feel those effects.
Anyway I can't link videos yet as i'm very new here but I have before and after videos on my youtube channel. You could probably find some if you search youtube for "Katie Byrne fob" if you are really interested. I started recording videos again basically about 10 days post op and as a result the change in vocal quality during recovery is fairly well documented (albeit in the form of talking about game development and modding as my channel is really about that lol
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So would i recommend this procedure? Well, yes. But i guess only if you cannot afford a better one (like Yeson from what i hear) or are a keen singer. I am very glad i had this operation and even this recently after the op it has had a massive effect on the quality of my life.
Sorry this was a bit of a monster post but i hope someone will find this useful
