Hi everyone! So i flew all the way from oz to Marbella to do my Tracheal Shave at the facial team. Many of you would think its crazy to fly all the way there for a small procedure like the Tracheal Shave. But as i mentioned in a previous post, I decided to pay 5 times the price I would be paying in Thailand, and pay for a crazy long flight and expensive plane ticket to Marbella only because I plan to do vocal feminization at Yeson. Those who are not aware, Yeson and Facial Team are somewhat partnered in the sense that they have discussed a protocol on the tracheal shave to later compliment the vocal feminization. Perhaps compliment isn't the word. Dr Kim at Yeson prefers the patient not to hae undergone the tracheal shave as it can quite easily, according to him, affect voice quality. Dr Kim and Facial Team have discussed how he wants the tracheal shave to be performed to maintain vocal quality leading up to the tracheal shve.

Annnyyyways, long story shot is my surgery is in 3 hours. Im excited but a bit nervous. I hate hate hate needles. So far I have been very impressed with the facial team. The surgeons are also very handsome haha. I think the main thing that puts me at ease with them is that, their protocol for surgery is working as a team. Usually when it comes to plastic surgery, you get the surgeon plus the nurses in the OR with you. And the anesthesiologist of course. At Facial Team, even for a small procedure like the Tracheal Shave, I will have Dr Capitan and Dr Simon (both the head surgeons and founder) and another assisting surgeon in the OR with me. So this makes me feel secure. Not to mention they have such warm personalities too. Also during the consultation they answered my questions in a very academic form.

What i learnt during my consultation? It is not the vocal cord damage we should be worrying per se, because if the operation is done right, the vocal cords should not even be visible from the incision since its inside the throat. We is concerning however, is that if too much is shaved off, the muscle and cartilage which SUPPORTS the vocal cords can be compromised, and thereby affecting vocal quality.

Another thing i learnt is why they do not do the tracheal shave under local anesthesia or iv sedation but rather general anesthesia. One reason is to stop the patient from moving the other is its problematic when the patient swallows saliva during the procedure. It seems by doing it under general it reduces the operation time too.

Anyways I will write a review after my surgery so wish me luck guys! I am most interested to see if I will just wake up without any sore throat or pain. The Thai Surgeons all said I will have a sore throat but facial team said I will feel no such thing, so we shall see!

xx

 Hi Pengola

  This is probably late but I wanted to wish you well with your shave.
  A tracheal shave is a procedure I am interested in having done also. I think I have hated my Adam's apple since puberty. I suppose I can say I've never liked it. My friends tell me it isn't very noticeable  now that I'm older but I "know" it's there and it bothers me.

  Anyway this day is about you, Pengola, and I hope everything turns out the way you want them to and hope your recovery is short and uneventful.

  Hugs,
    Laurie

awww thanks laurie. I just got back to my hotel. My voice is a bit weak but its the same sensation I had when I did my facelift last month from having the breathing tube down my throat and general anesthesia weakening me temporarily. Other than that I sound pretty much the same so I am confident I have no compromise in voice quality. I will know in the next 2 - 3 days once I fully recover from the effects of the breathing tube and anesthesia tho so a little update will be fine.

I had both Dr Simon and Dr Capitan come see me before the surgery and we discussed where the incisional will be. Because I recently had a neck lift together with my facelift just a month ago they had to be careful with the incision site so as not to loosen the tissues from the necklift. So far so good. While I was in the OR the patients before me were in the recovery ward and I really felt so bad for them. They had, from what I could tell, facial bone surgery and one of the lovely ladies seemed like she had so much discomfort. Really wish I could have given her a hug but I don't think the staff would be happy if I went and bothered the other patients, regardless of my intentions.

Also a note to anyone who is doing any surgery, if you are like me and hate hate hate needles, I suggest you request a smaller needle. It really helps with your comfort level. My surgery was delayed by one hour because they had 2 patients before me and I told them not to insert the iv into me until it was about time for my operation. They kindly complied. I really didnt want that needle in me for an hour while I wait. Anyways ill update once the bandage is removed.

Oh and like Dr Simon and Dr Capitan said, no pain no sore throat. Which is different to what the thai surgeons said which is expect some mild pain and sore throat. Gonna go treat myself to the dinner buffet at the hotel now hehe. Hope u are all having a wonderful day xxx

just an update guys. So my adams apple is like 90 percent gone. Theres still a tiny bit there but its such an improvement i think its a non issue. I think my neck is passable now so im really happy with it. I did a face and neck lift a month before and it just made by adam's apple so much more obvious than before so im glad its gone. I believe im still swelling too so in a few weeks it should flatten out.

Also, my worst fear was averted. No voice damage . First day i sounded the same then on day 3 pretty much lost my voice, only to get it back a on day 7. I think it was due to the swelling and what not. Had a minor panic attack there.

Service wise the facial team is very well equipped for us trans girls. They even have their own psychology department. If you are ok with the price tag I would go for it cos its an ease of mind. I was very uneasy with doing it in thailand due to hearing stories of voice damage. I mean im sure i could get an equally good result in thailand but I feel its just more of a guarantee with the facial team and I dont like to put a price on my face and voice tbh.

Oh and some of you were messaging me about the price. Its about 2500 for the tracheal shave and another 2500 for the hospital and anesthesiologist fee etc. Pretty expensive for such a small procedure but for me the price is insignificant as long as the results are good

Thank you for the info Pen. I am probably going to pursue this for myself.

Laurie

Quote from: Pengola on July 22, 2017, 03:51:55 PM
just an update guys. So my adams apple is like 90 percent gone. Theres still a tiny bit there but its such an improvement i think its a non issue. I think my neck is passable now so im really happy with it. I did a face and neck lift a month before and it just made by adam's apple so much more obvious than before so im glad its gone. I believe im still swelling too so in a few weeks it should flatten out.

It may not flatten out much more. The restriction on a tracheal shave is that you can't cut into the larynx without causing problems. If you are thin and have a large larynx, a properly done surgery will leave a little bump showing. I have the same issue however the bump is so much smaller than before that nobody has ever said anything about it. The only other options would be to have CTA voice surgery as that transfer support of the larynx to the cord that's used to change your pitch. The disadvantage is that CTA isn't the best voice surgery option and Yeson's procedure is far better than CTA alone.

My voice is still coarse and its been about 10 days. My male voice sounds exactly the same but my female voice which i use through vocal control is coarse and shakey. do you guys know if this is normal?

I don't know if it's normal but if you still have swelling in the area as the result of surgery, it may take longer for your voice to fully recover. As Facial Team is aware of the issues involved with taking off excessive material, I suspect it's not a long term problem but it might take a month or two before everything returns to normal.

Than makes sense. I would try to avoid general anesthesia for such a minor procedure. In fact, I think that most of the FFS doctors perform this surgery without any voice quality loss.

Quote from: Pengola on July 25, 2017, 10:46:07 AM
My voice is still coarse and its been about 10 days. My male voice sounds exactly the same but my female voice which i use through vocal control is coarse and shakey. do you guys know if this is normal?

I had a Tracheal Shave as well (not with FT). And I didn't had that problem you described... 

My Adams Apple is nearly not longer noticeable. And the incision line needs to be really searched! I'm super happy with the result of my Tracheal Shave.

And I knew that my surgeon has had also communicated directly with Dr. Kim from Yeson about what should be avoided when patient will having a VFSRAC with Yeson... (Btw. same also for Glottoplasty). So it's definitely not only the FT which has this knowledge. And I was really calmed down to know that before I had my Tracheal Shave... 

And wow...    And I was very surprised about the very expensive price tag FT has for such a surgery...