Vocal cord operations (Polyp, nodule) voice feminization surgery (with laser)

Vocal cords are a pair of structures in our throat (our larynx) that vibrate. They are the source of all the sound we produce. When we are hoarse, something has changed about those vibrations, and the goal of a physician should be to identify the cause of that hoarseness.

Interestingly, there are only two ways to be hoarse:

1. Air is leaking when you do not want it to leak.
2. The vocal cords are vibrating irregularly.

In order to diagnose a vocal cord problem that causes hoarseness, we need to look for one of these two findings. Ideally, a physician will look with a camera at the vocal cords and identify either a gap which is leaking air between the vocal cords, or he will find some asymmetry between the cords causing them to vibrate at different pitches. In every patient who complains of hoarseness, we will find one of these two problems. Fortunately, it is very easy to see air leaking or vocal cords vibrating irregularly, at least with the technology available today. Under this section, diagnose, you will find details on how patients are examined and how the cause of hoarseness is identified.

• Injection laryngoplasty
  • an office procedure to move or increase the bulk in a vocal cord.
• Medialization laryngoplastyor Augmentation laryngoplasty
  • an external procedure to bulk up or move over one or both vocal cords. It is also known as a thyroplasty or Isshiki Type I procedure as the original description of the procedure was by Dr. Isshiki and he named the procedure after the thyroid cartilage on which he was operating.
• Microlaryngoscopy
  • looking at the vocal cords with a microscope or endoscope typically  to look at or remove something from the vocal folds.
• Cricothyroid approximation (CTA)
  • an operating room procedure to raise the lowest pitch you can produce. Primarily designed for transgender male-to-female patients.
• Reduction laryngoplasty
  • an operating room procedure to reduce the height of your Adam’s apple. This is also known as a tracheal shave, though it is a procedure on the larynx (voice box) which connects to the top of the trachea (windpipe). Primarily designed for transgender male-to-female patients.
• Feminization laryngoplasty
  • an newer operating room procedure (an alternative to CTA) to raise the lowest pitch you can produce by removing the front of the voice box and shortening the vocal cords. Primarily designed for transgender male-to-female patients.
• Thyrohyoid elevation
  • a procedure to raise the resonance of the voice. Primarily designed for transgender male-to-female patients.