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Results Hindered by Asthma

ORIGINAL POST

Results Hindered by Asthma

$11,000

I'm not sure if this surgery was worth it...

The pre-op process was fantastic, all the way up to the surgery. The staff was great. I didn't spend a ton of time with Dr. Spiegel, but he certainly knew what he was talking about, especially in terms of pain (I was only sore for 4 hours after, and didn't need any pain medication). However, I had stated in my pre-op paperwork and consultation that I had a history of chronic coughing and asthma, but the doctor's weren't concerned about that. My throat and airways get irritated very easily, and, due to the nature of this surgery, I coughed and gagged an incredible amount afterwards (Day 2 - Day 10 post-op). One night, I even had an asthma attack and I couldn't call for help. Before I even left the hospital, all this coughing was heavily advised against by staff, since it can damage the vocal chords and hinder the results.

My mom, who was my caretaker, tried to call the clinic several times to get support for me, but was unable to get anyone to follow-up. Over email, someone tried to send us tessalon perles (cough medicine), but the mailing/pick-up process was overly complicated. I emailed the Surgery Coordinator, Uzma, (who was fantastic), for advice. She let me know that Dr. Spiegel wasn't concerned by my frequent coughing, which contradicted the guidance from other staff. I believe that this hindered my results significantly. After a week, I got some THC/CBD gummies, which helped a ton, and in hindsight, I would have been fine if I had taken them the whole time.

I am almost 6 months post-op now. My voice pitch went up a little bit which has made it much easier to casually feminize my voice. However, my vocal range and volume has decreased significantly. After having FFS and VFS, I get misgendered a lot less in person, but it still happens sometimes in online video games when I can only rely on my voice. It is also really hard for me to talk loudly, especially at restaurants. If I had paid about $5,000 less, I think this surgery would have been worth it, but for what I paid, I'm not sure if it was.

I would only recommend this for people under the age of 40, and for those who do not need to sing or speak loudly for a living.

Tasteful54791's provider

The Spiegel Center for Advanced Facial Aesthetics

The Spiegel Center for Advanced Facial Aesthetics

Overall rating
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Answered my questions
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Replies (2)

Hello, we are glad to hear your experience with our staff was great, as we all take pride in building relationships with our patients and ensuring all patients are as comfortable as possible. We are sure to maintain a relationship before, during, and even after surgery, so we always encourage our patients to reach out after surgery as we would be happy to be of help and we love to hear of any updates post-op. Due to the nature of the surgery, the healing process is crucial, and needs vary from patient to patient. Dr. Spiegel takes great pride in his work and truly cares for his patients. If you have been a patient of ours, kindly reach out privately so we can come up with a plan together to create a solution you will be happy with. We're sure you can have the great success that so many other people have had coming to The Spiegel Center
Wow, what a tonedeaf comment. Do you think people are going to read this comment and have a good opinion of your practice?? This person was clearly upset by their care and you just straight-up don't acknowledge it at all. This is obviously a canned message and you obviously didn't read their post. These types of messages hurt your practice, not help.
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