Greetings!
Many of you have read reports about my failed VSF that ended with me having the web removed and suffering permanent vocal damage. Well, recently after discussing my injury with my current voice doctor, it occurred to me that the top portion of my vocal cords are uninjured and still healthy. Currently, I have much more functionality than I had with the large, loose, U-shaped web that resulted from Dr. Haben's poor attempt, but I sound incredibly hoarse and still struggle with volume in noisy situations. The outer lining of my cords (called lamina propria) is stiff and uneven on the bottom portion which causes the hoarseness when the cords come together. Anyway, my doctor and I surmised that if a better, tighter web were created, in addition to raising my pitch, there is a chance that it could help my hoarseness by negating or webbing over the scarred portion, leaving only the healthy (or mostly healthy) upper portion free to vibrate. I reached out to Yeson in an email complete with a recent stroboscopy and Dr. Kim seemed to think that my hypothesis has some merit. He said, however, he may have to use a pulse dye laser to smooth out some of the scarring, depending on how high up it is, wait a year for it to heal and then create the web. He won't know until he has a chance to see it in person. We are both on the same page as far as one thing though: more than a feminine voice, what I am really seeking is a clear voice. Pitch gain would just be an extra bonus for me.
I'm putting this out here because firstly, I'm still incredibly hesitant about trying a web glottoplasty again. They say the definition of insanity is doing the same thing twice and expecting a different result. But then again, a different doctor and a different technique as well as different goals come into play. Am I crazy for even thinking about it? My voice quality is poor for sure, but I'm much better off than I was after Doctor Haben's surgery. Should I just settle for this voice?
Secondly, those of you who have been through VSF with Yeson have you seen video of your webbed cords while phonating? How deep do the vibrations go? Is it essentially only vibrating on top or does the web appear to play a role in the vibration? Thanks in advance. It will help me greatly in making this choice.