ENTtoday
  • Home
  • COVID-19
  • Practice Focus
    • Allergy
    • Facial Plastic/Reconstructive
    • Head and Neck
    • Laryngology
    • Otology/Neurotology
    • Pediatric
    • Rhinology
    • Sleep Medicine
  • Departments
    • Issue Archive
    • TRIO Best Practices
      • Allergy
      • Facial Plastic/Reconstructive
      • Head and Neck
      • Laryngology
      • Otology/Neurotology
      • Pediatric
      • Rhinology
      • Sleep Medicine
    • Career Development
    • Case of the Month
    • Everyday Ethics
    • Health Policy
    • Legal Matters
    • Letter From the Editor
    • Medical Education
    • Online Exclusives
    • Practice Management
    • Resident Focus
    • Rx: Wellness
    • Special Reports
    • Tech Talk
    • Viewpoint
    • What’s Your O.R. Playlist?
  • Literature Reviews
    • Allergy
    • Facial Plastic/Reconstructive
    • Head and Neck
    • Laryngology
    • Otology/Neurotology
    • Pediatric
    • Rhinology
    • Sleep Medicine
  • Events
    • Featured Events
    • TRIO Meetings
  • Contact Us
    • About Us
    • Editorial Board
    • Triological Society
    • Advertising Staff
    • Subscribe
  • Advertise
    • Place an Ad
    • Classifieds
    • Rate Card
  • Search

The Voice Lift: Should vocal fold surgery be considered a cosmetic procedure?

by Tom Valeo • April 1, 2010

  • Tweet
  • Email
Print-Friendly Version

Once health problems are discovered and addressed, patients begin vocal therapy, which involves aerobic exercise to increase lung capacity and voice training to strengthen the vocal folds.

You Might Also Like

  • Is Voice Therapy Effective in Managing Vocal Fold Nodules in Children?
  • Management of the Aging Voice
  • Pulsed-Dye Laser May Be Useful for Vocal Fold Scarring
  • Trial Vocal Fold Injection Helps Predict Positive Outcomes
Explore This Issue
April 2010

As a person’s vocal folds age and the intrinsic laryngeal muscles atrophy, the folds may no longer close tightly, allowing air to escape and creating a breathy voice. The person develops presbyphonia, characterized by hoarseness, reduced loudness, increased breathiness, strain and tremor. Filler injections can temporarily add mass to the vocal folds, while autogenous adipose tissue injections can produce a permanent increase in density. If the vocal folds need more bulk, tiny shims made out of Gore-Tex or Silastic can be implanted.

“We make an incision in a skin crease over the lower part of the larynx and make a small hole in the laryngeal cartilage through which we place the shims,” Dr. Sataloff said. “This brings the vocal folds closer to the midline, so, instead of a gap, the patient has good, firm vocal fold contact, and hence a strong voice with low effort.”

Gor-Tex partially implanted through bilateral thyroplasty windows

Gor-Tex partially implanted through bilateral thyroplasty windows

Growing Popularity

While some laryngologists are uncomfortable with the idea of improving the voice strictly to enhance its sound, the voice lift as a cosmetic procedure seems to be gaining in popularity. In 2006, an episode of “Nip/Tuck,” a series on cable channel FX about cosmetic surgeons, featured Kathleen Turner as a phone-sex worker who wanted to make her voice, ravaged by years of scotch and cigarettes, sound younger. And various Web sites tout the voice lift as a way to sound as young as cosmetic surgery can make you look.

Dr. Sataloff points out that, whether we like it or not, the voice contributes significantly to the overall impression a person makes. “People have a natural tendency to infer that someone with an infirm, unsteady voice has an infirm, unsteady mind,” he said.

Voice problems can also degrade quality of life, according to recent research. “We looked at associations in the elderly population between hearing loss and voice problems,” said Seth Cohen, MD, MPH, an assistant professor of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery at Duke University Medical Center Department of Surgery and a laryngologist in the Duke Voice Care Center in Durham, N.C. “Our research doesn’t prove that hearing loss causes voice problems, but it shows that the odds of having voice problems are increased if you have hearing loss. Those with both hearing loss and voice problems had greater depression symptom scores than those who had neither.” (The Laryngoscope. 2009;119(9):1870-1873.)

“Professional singers are analogous to Olympic athletes: If you can take care of them with their high level of demands and self-analysis, you can take care of the weekend warriors.”

As voice problems become more widespread with increased longevity, treatments are likely to become more effective, according to Dr. Johns. “If we could rejuvenate tissue through biomanipulation, we would have treatment options that could advance the possibilities for presbyphonia,” he said. “And these options may not be as far off as it seems. There are outstanding researchers looking for ways to deliver growth factors and stem cells to rejuvenate aging vocal fold tissue.”

Pages: 1 2 3 4 | Single Page

Filed Under: Facial Plastic/Reconstructive, Laryngology, Medical Education, Practice Focus Tagged With: Dysphonia, geriatrics, head and neck, reconstructive, surgery, treatment, vocal foldIssue: April 2010

You Might Also Like:

  • Is Voice Therapy Effective in Managing Vocal Fold Nodules in Children?
  • Management of the Aging Voice
  • Pulsed-Dye Laser May Be Useful for Vocal Fold Scarring
  • Trial Vocal Fold Injection Helps Predict Positive Outcomes

The Triological SocietyENTtoday is a publication of The Triological Society.

The Laryngoscope
Ensure you have all the latest research at your fingertips; Subscribe to The Laryngoscope today!

Laryngoscope Investigative Otolaryngology
Open access journal in otolaryngology – head and neck surgery is currently accepting submissions.

Classifieds

View the classified ads »

TRIO Best Practices

View the TRIO Best Practices »

Top Articles for Residents

  • Do Training Programs Give Otolaryngology Residents the Necessary Tools to Do Productive Research?
  • Why More MDs, Medical Residents Are Choosing to Pursue Additional Academic Degrees
  • What Physicians Need to Know about Investing Before Hiring a Financial Advisor
  • Tips to Help You Regain Your Sense of Self
  • Should USMLE Step 1 Change from Numeric Score to Pass/Fail?
  • Popular this Week
  • Most Popular
  • Most Recent
    • The Dramatic Rise in Tongue Tie and Lip Tie Treatment
    • Vertigo in the Elderly: What Does It Mean?
    • Experts Delve into Treatment Options for Laryngopharyngeal Reflux
    • Weaning Patients Off of PPIs
    • Some Laryngopharyngeal Reflux Resists PPI Treatment
    • Vertigo in the Elderly: What Does It Mean?
    • New Developments in the Management of Eustachian Tube Dysfunction
    • Some Laryngopharyngeal Reflux Resists PPI Treatment
    • Eustachian Tuboplasty: A Potential New Option for Chronic Tube Dysfunction and Patulous Disease
    • The Dramatic Rise in Tongue Tie and Lip Tie Treatment
    • Did You Receive COVID-19 Relief? Here Are Reporting Considerations for 2021
    • Otolaryngology Experts Share Best Practices in Five Areas
    • How Climate Change May Be Affecting Sleep Patterns for Adults and Children
    • Laryngologists Discuss Tough Tracheostomy Choices During COVID-19 Era
    • Head and Neck Cancer: Experts Discuss How to Improve Surgery Quality and Value

Polls

Did you receive funding from the CARES Act or Paycheck Protection Program?

View Results

Loading ... Loading ...
  • Polls Archive
  • Home
  • Contact Us
  • Advertise
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of Use

Visit: The Triological Society • The Laryngoscope • Laryngoscope Investigative Otolaryngology

Wiley
© 2021 The Triological Society. All Rights Reserved.
ISSN 1559-4939

loading Cancel
Post was not sent - check your email addresses!
Email check failed, please try again
Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email.
This site uses cookies: Find out more.