Experts warn about the harm of smoking to the vocal cords
Smoking brings many negative effects on people. In addition to various diseases, hoarseness can also occur in smokers. Due to this problem, symptoms such as thickening of the voice, scratchy voice, easy fatigue of the voice, hoarse and difficult to hear voice can be seen. Due to hoarseness caused by the formation of polyps and edema in the damaged vocal cords, shortness of breath and serious difficulties in speaking can also occur in advanced stages. In women who have this condition, voice thickening may occur. Patients may apply to hospitals for reasons such as their voices being thick like a man’s voice and the person they talk to on the phone thinking that they are men. This condition can be treated with a short surgery.
Otolaryngology and Head and Neck Surgery Specialist Assoc. Prof. Dr. Necati Enver stated that the treatment is easy for patients and the voice can be used after about 1 week.
“Smoking may cause hoarseness due to damage to the vocal cord”
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Enver said, “The negative effects of smoking on the vocal cords are countless. These include many things such as laryngeal cancer and shortness of breath. But in addition to these, even without causing cancer, smoking can cause hoarseness due to damage to the vocal cord. Hoarseness, especially in women, is due to cigarette polyps and cigarette edema in the vocal cord. While this causes problems such as hoarseness in the early period, with the passage of time, with the growth of these polyps, it can cause shortness of breath and serious difficulties in speaking with the effect of smoking. These patients usually apply to us because their voices are thick and they are addressed as “sir” on the phone. When we see the cigarette polyp on the vocal cord in our examination, we usually decide on surgery. The surgery is based on the removal of the polyp in the vocal cord through the mouth and there is no need for any incision in the throat or neck. There is no risk of losing the voice during the procedure. Our patients often ask us about this. The voice starts to recover immediately after surgery. We usually ask our patients not to speak for five to seven days. Afterwards, our patients start using their voices again. It takes a few months for the voice to reach its true, most powerful state. Because it takes time for the vocal cord to heal.”
“If the patient continues to smoke after surgery, this condition may recur”
Assoc. Prof. Necati Enver said, “The main thing that causes this situation is smoking. Smoking also causes these problems. Apart from smoking, throat reflux, also known as laryngeal reflux, can also cause such changes in the vocal cords. If the patient continues to smoke after the surgery, this situation may recur and it will be more difficult for both us and our patient to perform recurrent surgeries. We want our patients to quit smoking before surgery. In this way, vocal cords can heal better. Since it is an operation that requires more detailed and sensitive work than standard vocal cord polyp surgeries, recovery may take some time. Although the patient starts to use his/her voice one week after the surgery, the recovery process after the surgery takes two to four months. And at the end of this period, the voice can completely return to normal. Patients can often go home in the evening of the day of surgery. They almost never need to use any painkillers after the operation. The surgery is actually a very easy procedure for the patient. But from our point of view, it is a very fine work under a microscope. Because the vocal cords are a very small tissue the size of a finger knuckle. The polyps we see are the size of one or two lentil grains. We are actually talking about a very small disease. But since it is in a very critical place, we need to work very finely under a microscope.”
“Some of our patients do not apply to us because they are afraid of having surgery and losing their voices”
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Necati Enver said, “Some of our patients do not apply to us because they are afraid of having surgery and losing their voices, but it is possible to eliminate this with surgery. The main thing to be afraid of is to continue smoking. We recommend all our patients, both those with this problem and those without this problem, to quit smoking. You are your voice, take care of it,” he said.