3 years post VFS with Dr. Haben

[Lunarain]

It will have been 3 years in May post VFS with Dr. Haben. I'm no longer misgendered on the phone and I don't regret the surgery. However, my voice has not improved for the past 2 years or so. I sound clearly female either in person or on the phone but I have no volume in public, any noise would drawn out my voice. Volume aside, my voice gets tired all the time even though I work on my own schedule and I don't have to speak most of the times. I can say with certainty that my voice will not be getting better in the future. On a scale from 1 to 10, I give it a 6. Thank god I'm pretty but as they say YOU CAN'T HAVE EVERYTHING! 

[ainsley]

I am almost 2 years out from surgery with Haben and I can say the very same things.  No volume and I do not get misgendered anymore at all.  I am having a laser assisted glottoplasty next month to address the volume and hoarseness issue by a different Dr.

[Jessica]

It will have been 3 years post my VFS with Dr. Haben. I'm no longer misgendered on the phone and I don't regret the surgery. However, my voice has not improved for the past 2 years or so. I sound clearly female either in person or on the phone but I have no volume in public, any noise would drawn out my voice. Volume aside, my voice gets tired all the time even though I work on my own schedule and I don't have to speak most of the times. I can say with certainty that my voice will not be getting better in the future. On a scale from 1 to 10, I give it a 6. Thank god I'm pretty but as they say YOU CAN'T HAVE EVERYTHING! 

Hi Luna 🙋‍♀️ Welcome back to Susan's Place!  I'm Jessica.  My voice is something I am starting to look into techniques to change it myself, but I think I may have to do more.  Thank you for your posts.
I see you haven't been here for awhile so I'll post some links that may help you get better acquainted with the site since it may have change some.

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[kwala]

It will have been 3 years post my VFS with Dr. Haben. I'm no longer misgendered on the phone and I don't regret the surgery. However, my voice has not improved for the past 2 years or so. I sound clearly female either in person or on the phone but I have no volume in public, any noise would drawn out my voice. Volume aside, my voice gets tired all the time even though I work on my own schedule and I don't have to speak most of the times. I can say with certainty that my voice will not be getting better in the future. On a scale from 1 to 10, I give it a 6. Thank god I'm pretty but as they say YOU CAN'T HAVE EVERYTHING! 

Hi, lunarain. It's good to see you back. I remember your case well. I'm curious about whether or not you have been to an ent after your web formed to have it analyzed. In my case, Dr. Haben created a web that encompassed something like 3/4ths of my vocal folds. I had the same symptoms that you described, but additionally, was exceedingly hoarse even at low volumes.  There was not enough cord left to vibrate properly and no way for me to produce a clear tone. If you are satisfied with your voice then there is no need to do anything further, obviously, but if that ever changes it may be worth your while to see if the web can be tweaked via medialization or a laser tightening to allow more space for the mucosal wave.

For me, yes, sounding female was my goal, but sounding like a female with throat cancer and saying goodbye to a social life because no one could ever hear me was not worth it and not what I signed up for.  I know a lot of the Haben girls who have experienced vocal issues after surgery are simply satisfied to be correctly gendered now and that's great. We all have different standards and expectations.  I just hope that this doctor is now doing a better job of explaining the possible downsides to his work.

[Lunarain]

I am almost 2 years out from surgery with Haben and I can say the very same things.  No volume and I do not get misgendered anymore at all.  I am having a laser assisted glottoplasty next month to address the volume and hoarseness issue by a different Dr.

I would be intrigued to learn about your glottoplasty results. I wish you the best of luck!

[ainsley]

Thank you! 

Look here for updates:
https://www.susans.org/forums/index.php/topic,221567.0.html

I have been keeping the saga of my vocal cord journey there.

[risingphoenix]

Same here, the volume is much much lower than before, and it's hard to talk loud. The surgery for me was semi successful, I had a lot higher expectations that were not met. I would rate the success of my surgery 5 or 6/10.

Kwala, I remember your case, are you still having the same issues? You weren't able to find another doctor to fix your voice?

[kwala]

Same here, the volume is much much lower than before, and it's hard to talk loud. The surgery for me was semi successful, I had a lot higher expectations that were not met. I would rate the success of my surgery 5 or 6/10.

Kwala, I remember your case, are you still having the same issues? You weren't able to find another doctor to fix your voice?

In my case, the web was simply too large. I had only a small amount of vocal cord left and it had no space to vibrate, so I had to have it removed. This made me noticeably louder (though nowhere near pre surgery levels) and almost just as hoarse because the edges of my cord had been lasered and sewn together, then sliced apart so the edges have permanent scars. I have tried a few different procedures to further improve my condition such as medialization with a prolaryn gel injection (little to no effect) and a pulse dye laser treatment to loosen up the scarred tissue (small, but noticeable improvement). I am trying a more aggressive procedure in a few weeks, and I'll be sure to report on the outcome when I've had enough time to heal.

[PattyPat]

Oh my, I see not all reviews about Haben are positive and I thought he was my saviour. Anyway, can I ask how is his trachea shave procedure, meaning is it done from inside - without leaving scar or is he doing the incision like Bart in Belgium? I had 2 trachea shaves with Bart and I STILL HAVE VISIBLE Adam's Apple. Plus the scar of course. I want to remove the scar with laser hence asking if Haben does from inside rather than outside.

[OU812]

I wonder how many of those indicating issues with hoarseness / low volume did not already have these issues as characteristics of their voice, but never noticed because of using it less before surgery? My own voice was soft before and still is - surgery did nothing to help or hinder that. If anything it's easier to achieve volume now.

However if I use my voice a lot on a given day (lots of talking, or forceful use), my voice is much to my displeasure a solid notch lower the next day, especially in the early hours - roughly comparable to pre-surgery. I'm considering a revision because although my voice sounds fine on good days and really is a lot better overall, I am more guarded about vocalizing if my throat is swollen from overuse or any other reason. My experience was good the first time aside from desiring a little more of an increase than I got, but he also "only" did 30% and I'm pretty sure my web ended up at even less than that.

As to the throat / adam's apple, trach shaves are best reserved for those who have one that sticks out horizontally. If it's no more prominent than your cricoid cartilage (please look this up if you don't know what it is), then having it reduced may actually make your throat's cricoid notch more prominent, unbalancing the voice box proportions and resulting in a 'bump' that can never be fixed. So unless you have an obvious protrusion on the upper part of the voice box, it may be best to let it be.

[Katie]

Best money I ever spent was going to Dr. Haben.

[Shay9999]

Congratulations on your 3 year post VFS! I always used to get misgendered on the phone, so it sounds nice to be able to talk without being misgendered.

I'm currently on recovery from Dr. Haben's. I'm super nervous that the stitches may have torn or that I'm not going to heal properly but all that aside, I absolutely love seeing posts like these giving him so much praise. As for the volume control issue, I'd say I'm a pretty... loud person. So the lowered volume doesn't sound like a bad thing. It's nice to see the positives and negatives of the surgeries in the long term. I'm excited to see how my voice recovers.

[KristySims]

I'm currently on recovery from Dr. Haben's. I'm super nervous that the stitches may have torn or that I'm not going to heal properly

I'm about 60 days from my surgery date with Dr Haben, I'm getting excited as my voice is my biggest insecurity.  I am so worried about getting a cold or accidentally coughing.  30 days seems like a long time to be mute!  I have told everyone I work with that I'll be communicating with text and pad for a month and it will be 4-8 weeks before I'll be able to even start to talk "normal"   How are you coming along with the silent treatment?  What makes you think you might have had a stitch tear? ...any sisterly advice?

[Shay9999]

How are you coming along with the silent treatment?  What makes you think you might have had a stitch tear? ...any sisterly advice?

Congrats on 60 days! My voice is a huge insecurity for me, too. I'm just about to reach my 30 day mark. Honestly, it was easy being silent for a month, but I just recently broke my phone so it's suddenly 100x more difficult. Luckily, it's almost over.

Around 2 week in, I felt tension in my throat, and my mind was telling me that the tension may be caused by the stitches slowly breaking. I cough a lot from mucus build up, and spicy and acidic foods are a part of my daily diet. However, I won't know for certain unless I fly back to New York, or just wait for them to heal.

If I can offer some post-op advice: Don't be afraid. Or nervous. He's a doctor, who has performed this procedure so many times, and he gives us things to look out for, but his percentage of post-op failures is supposedly very low. Just do your best, but don't kill yourself over following his instructions.

Some sisterly advice: Learn at least one 'good' 'dance' move or style. Don't care what the scale says, just eat as healthy as possible. Blow more kisses to everyone, give more hugs to friends. Water is your best friend. It takes about 600 human adults to acquire 1.5kg of iron from their blood, meaning it is possible to 'forge a sword from the blood of your enemies'.

[KristySims]

LOL  you are the best! and thanks for the reply   I was.... for really,  laughing out loud at work!   

I am planning on relying on my phone, but it still has to be hard!  I hope you won't mind sharing any pre-post recordings!?  I was surprised I couldn't find many out there.  I want to do a few YouTube of before, after....  with maybe a weekly update for the first 6-8 months...  if nothing else to track my own progress.  I am so happy for you and I'm sure your stitches are fine.  I have spoken to a few Dr's that do a similar procedure and they all said they use a permanent stitch....  I was almost thinking of asking Dr Haben if he would consider it, but then again he IS a Voice Dr....  hence my reason for going to him.

hahahah "forge a sword from the blood of your enemies"   love this!! << BIG HUGS >>

Kris

[Shay9999]

Sadly, I've lost all my pre-op recordings that I made specifically for testing my before and after. That being said, if you check my YouTube, I have done streams where you can hear me talk (and sadly never shut up) for hours on end. When my voice fully recovers I'll probably start streaming again (or at least around the 3 month mark). I really like the idea of doing before and after recordings. Especially since how we speak will be determined both by the pitch and voice therapy. There are times where I feel I speak very feminine, but with a deep voice. I don't know if that's how I come off to others, though. Might be worth seeing pre-op, post-op, and post-therapy.

You're probably right about the stitches being fine. I'm not beating myself up over it.

And I'm glad I could make you laugh at work. I aspire to get people in trouble in the workplace, haha.

[KristySims]

OOOH  I can't wait to hear your new voice..  I can hear your intonation and flow   If you remember PM me or post here that you are streaming again 

[PattyPat]

Hi, does he do the procedure from inside of the throat? Meaning no scars on the neck as opposing to others? Thanks

[KristySims]

I think it depends on if you get the single, double or triple

[Dena]

VFS is strictly down the throat. As the results you have a sore throat for weeks and because I had a stiff neck, he banged about half my teeth meaning I had to carefully chew as well. Fortunately non of my teeth were chipped and a few weeks of soft food wasn't much of a sacrifice.