I had a trachea shave on 4 Jan. I have finally reached the point where I could remove the tape from the incision, and I thought there may be some interest in a fresh set of photos. My voice is almost back to normal and I no longer have the urge to clear my throat every 15 seconds. There is still some swelling and the area is a bit tender to touch, but it looks much better than the first post-op photo. Although from the angle it looks like I traded a small lump for a much larger one, it actually looks very smooth in real life. I think once the swelling goes down it will look really nice. I had the surgery in Denver, CO, and it cost $3800. The surgery took about an hour. I was awake, dressed, and sitting in my car about an hour after I got out of surgery. The surgeon mentioned he was a bit aggressive and that he had overlapped some of my neck muscles to help provide a smoother look. I am not out at work yet so I will probably wear turtlenecks for another week or so, but it looks like it is healing well. To aid in healing I am using a small silicone strip over the scar at night and some mederma cream during the day. Today I used my extremely limited make-up skills to put some concealer over the scar then took my wife out to lunch and shopping. I did not notice anyone staring, which made me feel much more confident.
The original thread for my trachea shave is here:
https😕/www.susans.org/forums/index.php/topic,232477.0.html
Pre-op, 3hrs Post-op, 1 Day Post-op, 9 Days Post-op, 9 Days Post-op with concealer.
