Feminization larngoplasty

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Hi Dr. Thomas.
I'm a 53 year old male to female, I've had all my surgerys to be a female, but people  call me sir whem I'm on the phone. I have no problem when I'm face to face in public.
Do you think I'm to old for feminization largoplasty? I've had my addams apple shaved 5 years ago.

Jamie..

James P Thomas MD's picture
Submitted by James P Thomas MD on Sat, 2012-04-07 12:09

Dear Jamie,

I don't have a set age limit for the procedure of feminization laryngoplasty. I have a sense that younger patients do tend to get a more complete change in their voice. Also, two patients whose voice did not change at all were over 50 and had a fairly muscular and large body build. Some of the sense of success or failure has to do with resonance. That is, if you have a large throat, mouth and nasal cavities, the deep tones will still he amplified more. Still, that's not really enough numbers to statistically predict who will get a great voice, who will get an average voice and who will not benefit very much. It also depends on how much vocal cord length is altered. So the short answer is I don't think you are too old for the feminization laryngoplasty procedure, though the risk that you won't have a better-than-average result might be higher.