no preview available
I went and it very likely saved my life.
I'm going to do a writeup for this subreddit at some point but I can talk about my experience.
Their staff were very understanding and supportive. No one misgendered me, they helped me get from the hotel to their offices with their driver (a super wonderful guy) even though I was across the street (anxiety), and the doctor explained everything in great detail and made me feel comfortable.
I remember panicking a bit as I was going under and he put his hand on my shoulder. I think about that a lot.
I have heard far more positive things than negative. I think a lot of the bad outcomes are older folk (45+), people that don't follow the instructions, or people that don't do the exercises/training.
I'll be honest though. Recovery was rough and I don't mean the pain. It only hurt for a few hours after surgery and was mostly unnoticeable after the first 2 days.
It's the constant existential pain. Did that caugh fuck up your surgery? Is this blood? Is it ok? Did I tear a stitch? Would I know?
And you can't speak, whisper, or cry for a whole month. That means, as someone already at risk, you can't communicate and get support as easily. You also can't express yourself.
I told this story here but I'll tell it again here. A couple weeks into my recovery I was walking down the hall of my apartment complex in early December. I was going to go out and pick up some food. I heard a loud vocal track coming from someone's room and thought they were playing music too loud. It was some Christmas song. As I walked it got clearer and sounded nearly perfect but I still thought it was a recording until I got to my stairwell. There was a girl singing in there for the acoustics. She saw me, apologized, and kept carrying her groceries up stairs. She was beautiful, had a perfect voice, and seemed so happy.
Then there was me. I hated my body, couldn't even talk, and the highlight of my day was getting a salad from across the street. I just went back up stairs and sat on my bed. I tried not to cry because even if you make no sound the inflammation is bad for the surgery site. I was gone. At least for that day... But I thought about that girl a lot. Life is unapologetically unfair.
But I kept on.
The day I was first able to talk wasn't great. It was hard to vocalize words and I sounded bad. It cleared up but didn't sound that great. Over the next month it cleared up really well. And over the 4 months after that I got far better at controlling it.
My voice passes without issue now. Especially online which has been an adventure. Lot of simps when you're a gamer. But just the validation from being gendered properly online saved my life. At least I can be myself online.
And as I keep transitioning I have good and bad days but I always fall back on my online friends for validation. No one even remembers what I used to sound like. Most forget I'm trans.
I'm starting to pass now and it's all coming together but it was rough. I'm so glad I did it though. But I really think they could have prepared me more for that existential hellscape.
Did you have to do voice training as well as the surgery? I am thinking about getting VFS but I'm not sure if it's worth it when you also have to practice resonance and stuff regardless.
Yes, but it's a lot easier after the surgery. Before I basically have up. After it's so much easier.
A lot of it isn't just put h and resonance - it's learning mannerisms and speaking patterns to sound more feminine.
Thank you for sharing all this. I'm really socially anxious, and this comment was incredibly helpful. Would it be okay for you to share how old were you when you did the voice surgery?
I was 30.
I had my surgery 3 weeks ago, and I was asked to do 2 months voice rest post surgery, so no clue about results. But what I can tell, is that the clinic was really professional and accommodating. It's 4 floors with just his staff. Jessie, the patient liaison, will show you around and interpret, except when you're with Dr. Kim, his english is pretty good. Their driver Pablo drove me to and from airports and to all my appointments, despite the drive being 1.5 hours each direction on some of the days with heavy traffic. They're really good about answering emails or questions on whatsapp.
They really stress that the surgery is only worth doing, if you're gonna be disciplined about voice rest, and the subsequent voice training for the following year, to actually see the results. I imagine this explains - at least some - of the mixed reviews.
So the voice rest period varies for different situation? For someone I saw one month but others need 2 month.
Yeah seems like it. Afaik 1 month is the standard, 2 is ideal if you wanna do it. Dr. Kim told me to do two months, since I had very asymmetrical chords that needed to be corrected. I'm out of voice rest next week. 2 months is definitely a long time lol
Very happy for you!! Did you so tracheal shave at FFS before you went to Yeson?
Thank you! I have had ffs, but I didn't opt for a tracheal shave. I know yeson operates on people who have done so, but apparently there is a slight reduction in the quality of the outcome
thanks for the information. Two month is definitely very very long period
[deleted]
Sure, although I'm not really expecting my pitch to be higher at the beginning. I had a Botox injection, to reduce tremor of my chords, which might make my make my voice sound even deeper than what it was pre-surgery, until the botox wears off around 3-4 months. Also, your brain needs to adapt to using the new shape of the chords properly, so substantial changes should only really be super obvious after like 4-6 months, with final result at around 12 months :)
I did do a lot of voice training. I think 14 sessions with a specialist. It was very helpful. My voice is just pretty deep, and my vocal chords didn't close properly, so trying to raise my pitch substantially was exhausting and led to a lot of neck/body tension and pain. So any amount it helps with that I'm happy with tbh.
[deleted]
what is the Pitch data of pre operation and post operation?
I am 40 years old and interested in voice feminization surgery. My average pitch is 158 Hz to 167 Hz. Minimum 80 Hz to 88Hz. Maximum 232 Hz. The minimum average is 145 Hz to 150 Hz. The maximum average is 186 Hz. Mainly in the male to in-between range. I usually get called female on the phone but sometimes, maybe less than 5 to 10% of the time I get called sir. Once someone who knew my name, never met me in person, asked if I was female or male. I can't laugh or cough in a female pitch and I am constantly worried if my voice is clocking me. I am concerned about getting voice surgery, not sure if I should. I would appreciate your thoughts.
all 14 comments