Using Botox on your Voice

Using Botox can change your life in ways other than what you think. For some using Botox will be essential to working, socialising and maintaining your identity.

If you’re not aware Botulinum Toxin can be used successfully to help those with voice disorders, specifically Adductor Spasmodic Dysphonia. It’s used to help the vocal machine do what it can’t do anymore, that’s speaking effectively. Those with ASD have developed a voice which sounds strained and rough and a voice which is really difficult to use. It interferes with work and it interferes with how you socialise. It’s debilitating. If you’re a singer….it’s near impossible. But, when you inject Botox into your vocal folds it has a dramatic, albeit temporary improvement.

Let me break it down.

To speak, or sing, there are two tiny muscles about 1 to 1.5 cm long. These are joined at the front, joined at the Adams Apple, and are apart at the back. When we breath, they make a V shape to let air through. When we make a sound, they come together. The muscles are called thyroarytenoid muscles because they are joined the the thyroid (Adams Apple) and arytenoid cartilage. Covering these muscles are layers of tissue that allow the free flowing vibrations of sound waves and pitch.

If someone has ASD, it means the coming together (Adductor) of the vocal muscles is somehow affected (Spasmodic) which results in voice change (Dysphonia).

Botox injected into these vocal muscles will ‘paralyze’ them which will help with the affect of the spasmodic muscle, bring them together easier for a clearer sounding voice.

This has great results, life changing results, but, I know you’re all asking the same question. It’s only temporary. Yes, you will need to submit to ongoing Botox injections for the rest of your life to maintain an effective working voice. That’s why this Article Review looked at the Quality of Life of patients who are using Botox injections in their thyroarytenoid muscles.

The research reported that for those getting Botox injections it significantly improved their Quality of Life. Their work life and their social interactions improved. They regained a better quality of voice, well they regained a great part of their normal everyday life. It also reported that although there was a great improvement to their quality of life they were not able to regain their voice to it’s previous level of competency. We are able to get close but were not able to sound the same as before. The research also stopped at checking quality of life past a certain time. How did people feel after several injections? Did they continue to use Botox as a treatment? Did they go back to their disordered voice after a certain time?

We’ll know after more research is done.

What do you think? Are you someone who has used Botox on your voice?

If you want to read the article you can find it here.

Quality of Life After Botulinum Toxin Injection in Patients with Adductor Spasmodic Dysphonia; a Systematic Review and Meta-analysis. Maryam Faham, Akram Ahmadi, Erin Silverman, Ghaedamini Harouni, and Payman Dabirmoghaddam.