Hi,
First of all please be patient with my English, which is not my first language. Thanks..
Thanky, this will be valuabe information in repect to people who want to do glottoplasty outside of Asia ;) - so this is in the US then? This may be great news for people having health insureance plans that enclose this procedure.
Cool. All the best then for that. Did he describe the procedure in more detail so we can compare it with Dr Kims and others'? I hope you will do extensive before and after recordings with relaxed/untrained and trained voices reading, speaking and such ;) - if not, don't sweat it, but I think if you do and it comes out as good as Jennys pioneering visit to Dr Kim, your doctor may get more people flocking into his office soon ;)
12 notes seems to be a lot though. That is more than an octave?? Be careful with that - you probably dont want to be too much of a squeaky girl ?
What range are we talking about Hertz-wise? Will he suture 1/3 of the length or more?
Greetings
This is an interesting combination of two techniques. He seems to do something like a CTA first (tightening of the vocal chords) and then uses a laser scarring method. I did not see that he uses a glottoplasty method anywhere. So I sure hope they will do something good and I hope you had the chance to hear some samples, as CTA is a method that is rather conventional. The danger is that it can create a voice that sounds a bit stressed. basically one of two muscles used in voice generation is effectively put in chains so the voice cannot reach the deeper end anymore and the voice moves into a higher range - into a falsetto essentially. I know several laser based methods working on the vocal folds - one is in preparation of a glottoplasty (suturing the vocal chords together) and the other is basically tightening the vocal chords or inactivating parts of them by creating scar tissue. However this bears a certain risk of a breathy or hoarse sounding voice in the end.
Please be careful and do not act in a rush! Your voice is valuable an it is not all pitch that counts and it is not only "always passing female" that counts alone - you should also aim for a good and clear voice and I must say I am a bit worried if I read the techniques described in rather simple words here. It is no big art to raise pitch by an octave, but it is an art to do it in a way that makes the voice still sound natural and healthy afterwards, so please make sure that he can give you that as well.
I'm excited to hear how everything goes for you, it would be so great if there was a good VFS option in the states! I know that S. Korea is too far for some.
It is very interesting- it does seem like he is combining CTA with anterior web formation. I've never heard of that before. Do you have any examples or results from his patients before/after? And do you know what their success rate is?
Who knows, perhaps for some this combination procedure could yield even better results than Yeson's standalone anterior web formation. Going to be tuning into this thread for sure :)
Well, be sure to make recordings and post them , maybe you will be able to do what Jenny did for many others ;)
But I really would like to know - does Dr Haben create an anterior web? Does he suture the vocal chords? I do not see that mentioned anywhere. He mentions LASER but that is about it. There are at least 3 applications for lasers in voice feminization and in the case of creating an anterior web (Wendler glottoplasty) it only is a minor part in it. My concern is a bit that this is not the case with Dr Haben. Does he describe what exactly he does with the laser anywhere?
Thats interesting indeed. So you have your own glottoplasty surgeon in the USA then. It would be interesting then how well he does in comparison to Dr Kim. The combination with a CTA is something I never heard. Maybe it is an interesting technique as both techniques used could be used in a light version, still giving a good pitch increase, or both could be used to their potential and give a very strong increase in pitch if that is desired. I am still very suspicious about CTA - I wonder why he does not just perform a glottoplasty alone. Did he explain that? I can imagine it is what I said - not using these method to their potential may give a better result in terms of naturalness?
Yeah - be sure to document everything well, you may be a bit like a pioneer when it comes to this surgeon in terms of presenting what he does to the forum :) - sounds interesting for sure. Maybe he will want to write a text about this, describing it in more detail. After all, there may be patients flocking to him just like to Dr Kim once you speak about this to the internet in a great voice :)
Congratulations then!
I hope all will be well and you can proudly present some post op recordings with time. Maybe you can also describe a bit better at some point what was done now - some girls here have even posted photos from their vocal chords post op once they had their examination with a camera. Those look really fascinating.
My best wishes.
Bye
Glad to hear everything went well :) Sorry I've been away for a bit!
Can't wait to hear your results!
Sounds about right to me. Takes the swelling time to go down. I had a hard time w/ that, too. At first I was only happy with my voice when speaking extremely softly (no upper range otherwise). The swelling adds mass to vocal cords which is basically the same thing that happens w/ laryngitis.
After Yeson, I basically had no volume until around 10-12 weeks and I was extremely careful about not trying to force anything (I was told this allows the swelling to dissipate faster).
And as with any other surgical recovery, swelling will vary day to day until finally settling down. This was very evident throughout that whole 12 week period as I would have good voice days and bad voice days. By 16 weeks though my voice was becoming much more dependable at louder volumes and continued to improve until 9 or 10 months.
Surgical laryngitis, sounds right on the money!
OMG! It sounds wonderful! O.O that's an immense difference!
Oh I have a slight idea ;) went to yeson in July ;)
Thanks :) just a little over 1 month post up :) going to record som stuff tomorrow :)
I can't hear much of a difference yet, but that might be because things are going slowly here :p
So I'll let you girls decide tomorrow :)
That really is a great result - for a no effort voice without resonance control it is perfect. So this was the com bined glottoplasty plus CTA method? Amazing. I so envy you already for having this as your natural voice now without worry about dropping anymore
I am happy for you - I dont even know if you need so uch of that trained voice anymore if it sounds that good already, but maybe it can do some more nice changes. I am sure you will be able to go up and down more once things are healed, although I heard that the CTA part of the surgery makes it a bit harder to use the pitch range one is used to. Also the CTA usually seems to rahter drop a bit in pitch post op, while the glottoplasty seems to do the opposite
Sounds like a fantastic result already!!!
Congratulations! Looks like we may have another voice surgeon contender in the US!
This is already better than most (if not all) of the examples I have heard from other US voice surgeons.
I will be very eager to hear how your voice continues to improve :)
It would be interesting to get a statement from Dr Haben about why he combines both methods and how much he appplies both - e.g. how much of the vocal chords he ties off. Maybe I will write him and mention that I want to post his reply here for the community.
Congrats on the surgery!
I tuned into this thread because nothing else has been discussed for a while other than Dr. Kim so very curious to hear your results..good luck and best wishes for a great recovery until you can start talking!!
Gigi
Quote from: Buterfly99 on August 11, 2014, 03:50:06 PM
This is my new update. I tried to talk last night, it sounded good but today my voice feels more consistent. However, I can't go higher or even lower.. My new chest voice, or male voice sounds TOTALLY DIFFERENT THAN BEFORE!!! I want to cry, LOL... I can't believe how much higher it sounds today..
I'm waiting for the day I could use my mixed voice (trained voice) that I'm sure I will bring it so much higher than today.. Overall, I'm very impressed about the pitch, I got perhaps 8 notes or more higher, I'm not sure yet....
I repeat, this recording is made with my chest voice, nothing close to the male voice I had before..
http://k007.kiwi6.com/hotlink/0wkl8e12gx/First_recording_after_VFS.mp3
I'm going to add a new voice recording at my 6th weeks post-op hoping I'll be able to show my new chest voice and my trained voice... Dr Haben says that at 6 weeks my voice will start sounding much better and it will improve during and up to 1 year...
Greetings
Buterfly99
This sounds amazing! Congratulations on getting it done.
Also - your pre-op/trained voice really was excellent as well but I fully understand why you would still go through with the procedure.
Once again - congrats and good luck with continued healing.
I'm new here and was pointed in this direction by Jenny as I had a failed VFS in the past and yeson are not sure if they can accept me for VFS. It looks like you got great results so I will definitely contact Dr Haben for his opinion :)
Hello, Anna - may I ask what your failed VFS was - what technique was used and what failed? You do not have to disclose a surgeon. Maybe we can then help with some tips. also consider Dr Thomas in the US, he seems to be someone several people who had bad VFS before went to and were fixed.
how long did he say you had to wait before you were aloud to start talking?
The procedure used was an older CTA method using only threads and no metal re-enforcement, what went wrong is that my voice was fine for a few months and then the thread must have snapped / loosened or partially pulled out. I will have a look at Dr Thomas as another possibility.
No talking was 1 week if that question was for me
Small update, I have a consultation with Dr Haben booked for the 16th September. Hopefully it will help me to make a decision between Dr Haben and Yeson (if they will accept me)
I'm such a goon!
When I posted my lost comment in your thread I hadn't realised you'd posted that clip...
That sounds incredible!!!
I agree with Jenny's comment too from my research: 'This is already better than most (if not all) of the examples I have heard from other US voice surgeons.' - so I'm so relieved for you that this seems to have been a great procedure and sending best wishes for continued great recovery.
It's easy to forget now because I'm a little over 2 months post-op and have been talking for more than a month - but I FULLY understand your getting emotional and wanting to cry...I mean I still get paranoid about my healing at times and have good and bad voice days but on the whole the difference is incredible...so I was the same...felt so surreal...like this strange feeling that the Universe is finally on our side, know what I mean? ;p Hard to describe but most of us have been there....happy days!!
Big hug and look forward to your next voice clip to hear the improvements!!
Gigi
Quote from: anna chan on August 21, 2014, 01:11:09 PM
Small update, I have a consultation with Dr Haben booked for the 16th September. Hopefully it will help me to make a decision between Dr Haben and Yeson (if they will accept me)
Very interested to hear what he says about Yeson!
wow. just wow
is the scar very big? noticeable?
Wow Buterfly99 that's a big change. you sound soooo good it makes me wanna get VFS all over again with Dr Haben!
It really does sound good. I have the impression that it is a bit strained or tensed. I can imagine this goes away with time, it may be due to the CTA part. But it is absolutely clearly female and a rather high pitch at that as well. Do you think it fits to you overall? For me personally it probably would be too girlish , but thats just me ;) 15 years ago I would have loved to have such a voice. Is it still hard to speak or can you totally relax and it comes out like this now?
Greetings everyone, new here, I am unable to hear Butterfly99 voice, after clicking on the link it keeps asking me to download software even when I click play, help please ?
thank you ; )
For unknown reasons Butterfly99 deleted all posts here and also deleted or locked the audio recordings related.
Quote from: anjaq on December 17, 2014, 09:08:21 AM
For unknown reasons Butterfly99 deleted all posts here and also deleted or locked the audio recordings related.
Happens a lot. Some people don't want to be found after they transitioned.
Which is why the new site policy states that posts cannot be deleted or modified after a certain timespan without asking a mod. I guess it would be good to actually modify the first post in the thread to warn readers of the missing pieces and thus weird context of the answers
It's very true. Some people want to drop the trans/intersex label and just move on. I know I came back to the site after leaving. Won't post pictures or video this time either. But I will post my audio recordings when I go to NY in February. Safe bet you can't find me through rhat
Yes - I also dont post pictures except my distorted avatar (removed color and distored proportions a bit ;) ) - but I think voices are not so much of an issue. It is hard for average people to actually find someone by voice alone.