Specifically, they found that the procedure — which can be performed in 90 minutes by one surgeon — is effective at removing the Adam’s apple, that it can be performed using only the equipment already available in most surgical suites in addition to a few other inexpensive tools, and that it could be readily adopted by plastic surgeons and throat surgeons.
The procedure is called “scarless” tracheal shave, thanks to the lack of a scar on the patient’s neck, although in actuality, it does create a small, hidden scar on the inside of the patient’s lip. That’s the location through which a surgeon inserts cartilage-trimming forceps and a polishing tool to shave down the extra cartilage that forms the Adam’s apple.
“There will always be a scar with any surgery, but this procedure creates a scar that only a dentist would see,” said Dr. Abie Mendelsohn, associate professor of head and neck surgery at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, and the study’s senior author. “It represents a massive shift in the ability to provide optimal gender-affirming care for patients.”
Mendelsohn said many transgender people fear going about the activities of daily life due to the threat of being “clocked,” or being identified as a trans person by others, against their wishes.
“When we live in fear, that’s really no life at all,” Mendelsohn said. “With this original approach, we have the opportunity to surgically treat fear, and that’s an incredibly rewarding aspect of the work we do.”
Although there are several gender-affirming procedures that can be addressed through hormone replacement therapy, the Adam’s apple is one of a few anatomical features that can only be treated with surgery. The traditional tracheal shave procedure, which was developed in the mid-1970s, involves making an incision in the neck and then using stitches to close it up. But for some transgender people, the scar created by that procedure could be as distressing as the presence of the Adam’s apple itself.
MEDICA-tradefair.com; Source: University of California - Los Angeles Health Sciences
