Yeson voice feminization surgery

[Jennygirl]

Hi everyone! I have been looking into this place "Yeson Voice Center" more and more. My practiced female voice is coming along but I am still finding great difficulty using it around people I already knew- which leads to difficulties across the board. I want to use it all the time but just... can't... for some reason.

From what I have found, Yeson seems to offer the safest and least invasive voice surgery out there, and according to them they have done over a hundred voices with about an 80% satisfaction rate. The other 20% mainly just felt they did not have enough change- there has been not a single patient who has had any sort of complication that made the voice worse.. aka no risk of losing the voice or sounding hoarse.

I guess the main reason I am so interested is (probably like anyone considering voice surgery): it would "force" me to have the correct voice no matter who I am around. When I do find the confidence to use a near female voice around my friends they seem to respond well, but i find it incredibly unnatural to keep the pitch up- yet I can feel the goodness as they really start to gender me properly from all angles due the way I sound. It's just soooo harrrrdd.. Especially talking loudly which I seem to have to frequently do- because I go to lots of musical events talking to someone in the midst of a loud sound system trying to pass. My voice gets worn out sooo fast like this. Also I laugh a ton, and it's a dead giveaway when I'm trying to pass. I don't want to hate my laugh for that or try to learn a new laugh that doesn't just come from within.

Anyone have experience with Yeson or know someone who's used them? I've already emailed Yeson and they were super on top of getting back to me about my initial questions, but I would love to chat with someone who's actually done the surgery and lives in the US if possible.

Thank you in advance girlies <3 <3

[Shantel]

I had mentioned once before here somewhere that there is a nose & Throat specialist in Portland, Oregon that does a non-invasive procedure of shaving male vocal chords to bring them within similar specs as that of a cis female, people from all over the country have seen him and have gone away satisfied. I went with a TG girlfriend who had it done and sounded pretty good afterward and would have sounded a lot better if she had listened to him about not smoking while she was healing, the dumb ass!

[Jennygirl]

Hi Shantel!

Portland is a heck of a lot closer than Korea

I am really curious to know which doctor. I haven't heard of any non invasive ops in PDX... I've only heard of Dr. Thomas' laryngoplasty which is about the most invasive one can get and suuuuper risky it seems.

I had mentioned once before here somewhere that there is a nose & Throat specialist in Portland, Oregon that does a non-invasive procedure of shaving male vocal chords to bring them within similar specs as that of a cis female, people from all over the country have seen him and have gone away satisfied. I went with a TG girlfriend who had it done and sounded pretty good afterward and would have sounded a lot better if she had listened to him about not smoking while she was healing, the dumb ass!

[Shantel]

Hi Shantel!

Portland is a heck of a lot closer than Korea

I am really curious to know which doctor. I haven't heard of any non invasive ops in PDX... I've only heard of Dr. Thomas' laryngoplasty which is about the most invasive one can get and suuuuper risky it seems.

Well I might be mistaken but I think Dr Thomas was the guy. I think my friend had her trach shave and that procedure done at the same time.

[Jennygirl]

Well I'm glad to hear she had a good result

Personally I think Dr. Kim's method at Yeson sounds wonderful... No incision... VERY consistent result... No complications.

When I checked out Dr. Thomas' work a while ago I saw videos of a few patients that sounded absolutely incredible. But then I also heard a few examples that made me vow to never have that procedure... He literally takes the voice box OUT and reshapes it (so there is an incision over the neck), shortens the vocal chords, and then once healed lasers the chords as an attempt to correct imbalances of tension. I've heard too many hoarse & straining women's voices for me to ever consider it :/ Sorry if that is harsh. It just seems like one of the riskiest ways to do it, but maybe I am wrong.

Dr. Kim goes down with an endoscope, and puts a suture to tie the chords together so that only about 2/3 of the vocal chords can vibrate. Kind of like putting a capo on a guitar if you ask me. Recovery is 7 days no talking, 2 months minimal talking, and the voice continues to improve over the course of the year. But, by two months it is already supposed to be pretty close if you are a good girl, don't smoke, and take care of yourself.

I really hope someone active here has tried it!

Well I might be mistaken but I think Dr Thomas was the guy. I think my friend had her trach shave and that procedure done at the same time.

[XchristineX]

I myself also would just love to go to the yeson voice center

From what I understand he can do godly work for ts girla voices!!!

[Jennygirl]

IKNORITE?!

I'm considering it heavily- I've been working my butt off and I can afford it, like, now.. very tempting to schedule and buy some plane tickets. I just wanna see if there's anyone here with any experiences to share.

Visiting Korea would be amazing, too. Yikes

I myself also would just love to go to the yeson voice center

From what I understand he can do godly work for ts girla voices!!!

[Rowan Rue]

Hmm, this sounds very interesting.  Voice surgery is something I'm interested in because Before I started transition I had JUST started to develop a good vocal range for singing and, well, now it's gone.  It makes me really sad because I love to sing and it would be amazign if I had a chance at a normal female range.

Jenny, I know what you mean about talking to people who you knew before transition.  I had exactly the same problem.  Jus feeling super self conscious around them.  Do you find that with everyone who knew you before or just some people?  There are a few people who I just had to cut out of my life for a while because I just couldn't feel comfortable around them.  More recently I saw one of them again and it wasn't an issue (the idea of trying to speak in my old voice just seemed too odd).  Maybe just try taking some time off from old friendships?   

[Jennygirl]

I find it to be the case with pretty much everyone and it ends up making me feel self conscious even around people I don't know. Taking a break from friendships is impossible, too. Not only do I live, eat, sleep, and socialize with all of them, I love them too dearly to ever consider it I have a huge inner circle of friends, probably 30 or 40 people, and I live with 13 of them.

I've changed my inflection and word choice dramatically, but only rarely am I ever able to hold a pitch that is close to female unless I am alone or feeling especially good after a really good practice session.

I guess that's why I feel like VFS is a good option in my situation, because then my voice would be natural regardless... aka not trying at all to sound a certain way- just letting it happen. And immediately everything else would fall into place, too: sighing, laughing, singing, yawning, etc. I'm also really excited about the singing aspect.

Anybody wanna go to Korea with me and be silent sisters for a week? Lol...

Seriously though, I might do this like... sooooon

Hmm, this sounds very interesting.  Voice surgery is something I'm interested in because Before I started transition I had JUST started to develop a good vocal range for singing and, well, now it's gone.  It makes me really sad because I love to sing and it would be amazign if I had a chance at a normal female range.

Jenny, I know what you mean about talking to people who you knew before transition.  I had exactly the same problem.  Jus feeling super self conscious around them.  Do you find that with everyone who knew you before or just some people?  There are a few people who I just had to cut out of my life for a while because I just couldn't feel comfortable around them.  More recently I saw one of them again and it wasn't an issue (the idea of trying to speak in my old voice just seemed too odd).  Maybe just try taking some time off from old friendships?

[Shantel]

Well I'm glad to hear she had a good result

Personally I think Dr. Kim's method at Yeson sounds wonderful... No incision... VERY consistent result... No complications.


Dr. Kim goes down with an endoscope, and puts a suture to tie the chords together so that only about 2/3 of the vocal chords can vibrate. Kind of like putting a capo on a guitar if you ask me. Recovery is 7 days no talking, 2 months minimal talking, and the voice continues to improve over the course of the year. But, by two months it is already supposed to be pretty close if you are a good girl, don't smoke, and take care of yourself.

I really hope someone active here has tried it!

That makes a lot of sense and sounds like the way to go!

[kathyp]

I just recently discovered this voice doctor in Rochester, Ny  so right now my short list is Yeson
or this clinic.I found Dr. Thomas approach to be a little to much like an experiment.
http://professionalvoice.org/feminization.aspx
kathy

[XchristineX]

And another group of Asian medical professionals that discriminate
Against people with hiv...

[Jennygirl]

I just saw that one yesterday. Then I saw a video of what they actually do with the laser... It's looks like they laser out a canal on each side and sew it back up. Kind of harsh looking.

Also they do make an incision on the throat.

I just recently discovered this voice doctor in Rochester, Ny  so right now my short list is Yeson
or this clinic.I found Dr. Thomas approach to be a little to much like an experiment.
http://professionalvoice.org/feminization.aspx
kathy

[Jennygirl]

So if I understand correctly you can't go to Yeson??

And another group of Asian medical professionals that discriminate
Against people with hiv...

[XchristineX]

Apparwntly not to any Asian doctor....
Regardless of physical condition...
Which is shocking.  .some poz girls are stronger and healthier
Than non poZ girls...we're  heavily maintained for everything...

[Ltl89]

I really wish you luck Jenny.  I haven't heard of too many positive things about these procedures, but that may be due to ignorance and lack of research.  But do be careful.  You only have one voice and you don't want to risk damaging it.  Personally, it sounds appealing if I ignore all the fears about going through surgery.  Yet, I have always been told that the best results come from training your voice and that these surgeries could create additional issues. However, you seem to be making a good case for it. Now I am going to have to do some research on this because I didn't know it was a viable option.  If it works and isn't terribly expensive, I may consider this in the future.

In any event, I wish you lots of luck and hope you get great results if you go down this path.  Just be sure to be safe.

[XchristineX]

Yea lol in all honesty I am 5 ft 11
Zukowski told me to never ever modify my voice
Apparently pitch is perfect ..I know lots of native girls
Where I'm from with voices deeper than mine.....
And they are the same height....

[Jennygirl]

Thank you so much for the caring thoughts, I am being as cautious as ever. Honestly I wouldn't let any doctor in the US touch my vocal chords after reading through the process of their procedures.

I went to Ousterhout for my trach shave and paid an arm and a leg for that procedure because I wanted it done right with no complications- and no visible scar. I'm not going to ever get a surgery unless I feel it's the best of the best of the best. Ousterhout was well worth it and I could not be happier with my results.

For some reason I just have a really good feeling about Yeson, similar to how I felt about Dr O. I think because with Yeson, it is such a minimally invasive procedure and also that they are specialists. They know how to do one thing and one thing only: help people with their voices.

I think generally most doctors still don't know that Yeson exists, and the recommendation against CTA or laryngoplasty or thinning the vocal chords with laser does make sense to me. The results seem too choppy. And it's true, you do only get one voice. If there is a risk of losing it completely, why would any smart doctor recommend it when you can get close enough with proper training? Maybe though if they knew about this procedure and started seeing continued good statistics they would see that maybe not all vocal surgeries are practiced equally. This one, at Yeson, apparently carries zero risk of losing the voice or developing a bad vocal texture. The only complication is seeing little to no improvement. There have been no other complications that send someone in the reverse direction. Sounds like the work of a specialist to me.

I really wish you luck Jenny.  I haven't heard of too many positive things about these procedures, but that may be due to ignorance and lack of research.  But do be careful.  You only have one voice and you don't want to risk damaging it.  Personally, it sounds appealing if I ignore all the fears about going through surgery.  Yet, I have always been told that the best results come from training your voice and that these surgeries could create additional issues. However, you seem to be making a good case for it. Now I am going to have to do some research on this because I didn't know it was a viable option.  If it works and isn't terribly expensive, I may consider this in the future.

In any event, I wish you lots of luck and hope you get great results if you go down this path.  Just be sure to be safe.

[Shantel]

Jenny,
     Sounds like you've done your homework which is soo smart. On your way to South Korea stop by Seattle and visit me and Rowan Ru, you're one of my kids and I want to hug you and kiss that pretty face!

[Jennygirl]

Haha aww Aunt Shanty <3

I am thinking about making a trip up there in November or December so please hold tight

Okay I am kind of a ball of excitement right now to say the least. I might be going to Korea on May 12th. If my friend is able to accompany me then, I'll be having the operation on May 15th. Yuupppp!

Words. I have none. Too much nervous excitement. Does not translate into verbal semantics.