Hi all,

I have been deeply looking into voice surgery this whole year, and although it is a ways off, I want to have a plan and know who to save for. I have been primarily looking at Yeson, Dr. Thomas and Dr. Haben.

It sounds like within the last year or two that Yeson has quit doing trach shaves and now recommends that patients not have one before or after VFS.

Has anyone went in there with a shave? Has anyone gotten a shave afterwards? Or do I have to choose between a shave and a voice surgery? Any thoughts on this?

This is also my first post - hello! I have been scouring this forum and following people's surgeries quite closely!

Hello Andreah

I had trachea shave with Dr Bart who ruined my voice as I ended up not being able to hit high notes anymore. I subsequently had vfs with yeson who said it is advisable not to have trachea shave prior to vfs but still accepted to operate on me!

I had the same thing happen when I got my tracheal shave done. It took years to get my voice sounding feminine again, and I doubt I will ever hit high notes.

Mine was done in Asheville, NC when I lived there.

Quote from: Ritana on July 19, 2016, 08:01:06 AM
Hello Andreah

I had trachea shave with Dr Bart who ruined my voice as I ended up not being able to hit high notes anymore. I subsequently had vfs with yeson who said it is advisable not to have trachea shave prior to vfs but still accepted to operate on me!

Hi Ritana

Very sad to hear your experiance... Did I got that right? You had trachea shave before VFS? And what happend to the voice ?

Take care...
Danielle

Quote from: Lady Sarah on July 19, 2016, 08:14:36 AM
I had the same thing happen when I got my tracheal shave done. It took years to get my voice sounding feminine again, and I doubt I will ever hit high notes.

Mine was done in Asheville, NC when I lived there.

Dear Lady Sarah

Also very sad to hear that from you... Did you had also a VFS at Yeson after the trachea shave? And what you did to get your high pitch back? Training?

Take care... 
Danielle

Hi Danielle,

Yes i did get some of my.pitch back. Currently, I am still healing.

I had a trach shave with Ousterhout a long long time ago and it didn't hurt my voice in any way.  Have had VFS with Yeson, too.  Not sure if I have a perfect result or anything, but it seems to have worked.

Quote from: DanielleBasel on July 19, 2016, 08:22:48 AM
Dear Lady Sarah

Also very sad to hear that from you... Did you had also a VFS at Yeson after the trachea shave? And what you did to get your high pitch back? Training?

Take care... 
Danielle

I never had VFS, although I had considered it after the tracheal shave messed up my voice. I trained my own voice, over a period of several years.

Quote from: andreah on July 19, 2016, 07:51:30 AM
Hi all,

I have been deeply looking into voice surgery this whole year, and although it is a ways off, I want to have a plan and know who to save for. I have been primarily looking at Yeson, Dr. Thomas and Dr. Haben.

It sounds like within the last year or two that Yeson has quit doing trach shaves and now recommends that patients not have one before or after VFS.

Has anyone went in there with a shave? Has anyone gotten a shave afterwards? Or do I have to choose between a shave and a voice surgery? Any thoughts on this?

This is also my first post - hello! I have been scouring this forum and following people's surgeries quite closely!

Andreah,

Welcome to the site. I do not have the info you are seeking. However, as you may have noticed, we have a lot of members and most are not afraid to share experiences.

I also want to share some links with you. They are mostly welcome information and the rules that govern the site. If you have not had a chance to look through them, please take a moment:

Site Terms of Service & Rules to Live By	Standard Terms & Definitions	Post Ranks (including when you can upload an avatar)
Reputation rules	News posting & quoting guidelines	Photo, avatars, & signature images policy

Once again, welcome to Susan's. Look around, ask questions and join in.

With warmth,

Joanna

Hi yall!

So it sounds like trach shaves can impact the pitch of the voice? I might just leave my trach alone and go for the VFS then - would be nice to have it smaller, but it would be nice to have a couple thousand bucks and peace of mind as well!

Thanks feel free to leave more experiences with VFS and trach shaves while we are at it! I love learning more and have already looked at a bunch of old posts.

As far as "leaving it alone", that might be a smart option, if the Apple is not obvious. In my case, all people had to do was look at my neck, and I would get called"sir". For me, keeping it was not an option. The surgeon did a beautiful job. The damage to the pitch (however) was horrible.

The trade off with the trachea shave is how much to remove. My plastic surgeon told me he couldn't remove everything without damaging the voice. He took off what he could and it was a big improvement but there still is a small lump that I have never received a comment about. What is left and shows is the larynx and unless it's reenforced as Dr Haben does, the larynx can't be altered without damaging the voice.

Dr Kim advises against it, but many patients had trach shave and then VFS, however it makes it harder to judge how much has to be done in the VFS. Jennygirl had a 50% shortening of the vocal folds because she had a trach shave before and Dr Kim wanted to make sure that it is enough. I think if you had a trach shave before, Dr Kim would not reject you, but he is not very happy about it. I am not perfectly sure about this but something to consider may be to get the trach shave done with FacialTeam, since they are in good communication with Dr Kim, doing joint consultations later this year etc - maybe they have been informed about how much and what parts of the cartilage can be removed to still be able to do VFS safely afterwards? Just a though, I never needed a trach shave, so I just had the VFS with Dr Kim.

Dr Haben does both and also he additionally does a CTA - but its ones own choice which surgeon one wants to trust with the voice.

Dr Thomas probably will also be able to do several procedures as he also does complete larynx reconstructions, so he should be familiar with working on the cartilage as well as the soft tissue as well.

 

Quote from: Denjin on July 19, 2016, 01:46:19 PM
I had a trach shave with Ousterhout a long long time ago and it didn't hurt my voice in any way.  Have had VFS with Yeson, too.  Not sure if I have a perfect result or anything, but it seems to have worked.

I am also wanting to do tracheal shave and VSF. Did you do the shave before VSF?

Yeson and Facialteam together wrote an online article on this topic (which obviously would also apply if you do not do the trach shave with Facialteam, but since it concerns specifically Yeson...)

http://facialteam.eu/blog/ffs-surgery/adams-apple-reduction-voice-feminization-surgery/

Quote from: 123trans on March 05, 2017, 04:03:08 AM

I am also wanting to do tracheal shave and VSF. Did you do the shave before VSF?

Hi!  Pardon the interruption, I just wanted to welcome 123trans to Susan's Place.  As you have probably noticed, there is a wealth of information and friendly folks here.

I'd like to invite you to drop by our Introductions area and tell us a little bit about yourself.  You'll find some kindred spirits with you there.

I hope you feel welcome here.

I also want to share some links with you. They are mostly welcome information and the rules that govern the site. If you have not had a chance to take a look, please take a moment to go through them.

• Site Terms of Service and rules to live by
  
• Standard Terms and Definitions
  
• Post Ranks (including when you can upload an avatar)
  
• Reputation rules
  
• News posting & quoting guidelines
  
• Photo, avatars, and signature images policy
  

Once again, welcome to Susan's. Look around, ask questions and join in.