Hello, I am 55 years old. I am having glottoplasty (VFSRAC) tomorrow. The surgeon is Dr. Sadaloff. I had a Sataloff cricoid thyroid subluxation procedure in December. He set me up with one of their voice pathologist and singing coaches post op. I still see their voice pathologists. The first procedure moved my pitch from 135 to 175-180 hz. After the operation I was at 160 hrz, raspy and had low vocal power. I am just now getting use to my voice. At first I thought I sounded horrible. It took a while for my brain to accept the new sounds coming out of me. I have good vocal power now and If I use proper technique my voice does not get raspy at the end of the day. I talk alot.
It took 6 months to regain my voice. Slowly improving each week. They gave a few techniques that really help. I practice them 5 days a week. It took me a while to understand and connect how the techniques helped. Once I connected with what needed to be done it made the differance.
I had 8 months of speech pathology lessons with the same speech pathologist Dr. McGinn used pre-op. She helped a lot but my pitch was not going to allow me to have the voice I wanted. I am in the androgynous range now with male timbre. I have gotten compliments from other trans woman about my voice but I am not satisfied.
The glottoplasty tomorrow is with micro instruments. He will do the operation with a laser. He had made 100 different types of micro vocal instruments in his career. It is your choice. You have to provide reason for each operation and he has to agree that the operation will help you and better your quality of life.
The office is very LGBT friendly.
My voice pathologist was covered by Aetna (in network), My cricoid thyroid subluxation was covered by Aetna (in network) and my glottoplasty will be covered by Aetna in network. Since my deductible is easily meet annually I have no out of pocket cost.
There is no info on Dr. Sataloff's procedures on the net. He is very expensive. I think that is why he is not known in our community. The first operation was $70,000 not to mention the pre surgical testing in his office and the MRI and ultrasound and post surgical testing (three times). I have no idea what the second operation will cost. I will find out.
I spoke with a person that had a glottoplasty with Dr. Spiegel. She had a 30% tie. She needed to have a higher percent tie. She is about 55 to 58 years old. She did not have voice pathology post op and had lost vocal power (perhaps scar tissue where the vocal golds meet). I think her pre and post surgical voice sounded much different. She definitely sounds female. I just think she would have had a higher pitch if the tie was more than 30%. She wanted a higher pitch. She definitely sounds female on the phone and more so in person. We had dinner in a restaurant and there was not problem hearing her.
The difference in pics between a laser and an instrument cut is a whole lot different. Everyone heals differently. Some heal with very little scarring, some with normal scarring and some with a lot of scarring. The more trauma to an area the more scarring potential that is possible.
Dr. Sadaloff leaves a bit of mucosa tissue pushed out of the way of the web. He does that in case the web needs to be reduced at a later time.
Aetna (we are self insured too) would not cover out of country operations (my company's decision). I am apprehensive going to Korea but I probable would have. However, my transition had cost me a lot and my funds are low. I have alimony and one more your of college and living expenses for my daughter. Perhaps I would have gone next year. So I looked for an alternative. I will post how my voice progress proceeds. If I get 25 to 40 hrz and reduce or eliminate the make timbre than I would be happy.
I think the % web and the type of mucosa removal is very important. How you heal is how you heal. Post op voice therapy is important and with a speech pathologist that has worked with glottoplasty patients. Yet, woman have gone to doctors that use lasers and have had no post op speech therapy and done very well. So in the end you need to do your own due diligence.
