I had a good experience. I had a glottoplasty and CO2 laser cord reduction. This was my own “bespoke” surgery I requested; Dr. Thomas is more well known for FemLar. I never had much of a visible Adam’s apple and did not want the external scar from the FemLar approach. Prior to surgery my voice was androgynous with effort or sounded like “a woman who smoked too much” according to one of my doctors. However, if I let myself slip I could definitely drop way too low and I am still shocked when I see videos of myself from before. After surgery those low tones and that heavy male voice are gone forever and I no longer have any chance of “slipping.” I had a minor procedure using a KTP laser in the office after I developed a small granuloma around the surgery site, which caused some hoarseness. This was done at no cost under local anesthetic. A few years on my voice has been fine until I got Covid, which seemed to set off another bout of hoarseness. I am headed back to the office in a few weeks to see Dr. Thomas to see if I may have another granuloma or if it’s even related.

I am happy with my results and with my surgeon. However, it’s surgery, not magic. I think anyone expecting any procedures to do all the work for them is bound to be disappointed. My male voice is gone but I do still think about how I talk and what I say, if that makes sense, though I was never “masculine” before I do still watch my resonance. Had I the whole thing to do over again I probably would just have gone with the FemLar; after weight loss and a few years i find I do have more tracheal prominence than I would like and I am also going to ask Dr. Thomas about Adam’s Apple reduction when I am there. This would have been addressed already had I just gone ahead and done the FemLar instead of the glottoplasty, but at the time I made the best choice I had. He absolutely doesn’t do a hard sell and let me go with what I was comfortable with.

One more thing: there’s been a lot of debate over glottoplasty as if it magically gives you this huge pitch increase, and it does at first, but that doesn’t last long term. Mine was at like 400HZ for the first few months but then it fell down to something like 190 to 200 and thats where it’s stayed. The combo of pitch increase and laser reduction softened my voice enough that it sounds much more feminine despite not being super high. I think it fits a tall woman in her early 40s.

If I can remember right this was right before prices went up. I think it was $12,500 US. But, I can’t remember for sure.

According to him there were no “complications”, yet my resonance hardly changed from the baseline and my pitch went up almost an entire octave so I actually have to lower it down to match the resonance and sound more like a taller woman in her 30s. He didn’t see what my issues were and made my voice even more atypical from most women. I am still anxious to talk on the phone and with strangers after a year. I spend so much time with voice training and have to watch my resonance all the time even when I have done everything I can.