In life, we often have sore throat, hoarse voice, cough and other symptoms after fatigue, excessive talk and cold. Sometimes after a few days of rest or medication, the symptoms of hoarseness gradually improve, but sometimes the symptoms can last for days or even months.

In the clinic, there are some patients because of hoarse voice did not take it seriously, and so long not good to see a doctor found a big problem. There are many reasons for hoarseness, it may be simple anger, it may be inflammatory lesions of the vocal cords or nodules, polyps, and it may be malignant tumors. Therefore, hoarseness is a warning sign of vocal cord disease, must be paid attention to.

1. Vocal cord inflammatory lesions are often acute and chronic laryngitis

The vocal cords are made up of two vocal folds that connect to the trachea, and it's like a switch for the trachea. When we make sound, the vocal folds on both sides tighten, the gap in the middle Narrows or even almost closes, and the air rushing out of the trachea and lungs constantly impacts the vocal cords, causing vibration and sound.

Therefore, the length and tightness of the vocal cords and the size of the gap in the middle will affect the level of the tone. Adult male vocal cords are long and wide, and female vocal cords are short and narrow, so women have higher voices than men. Teenagers start to change their voices at the age of 14, and it usually lasts about six months.

The most common inflammatory lesions of vocal cords are acute and chronic laryngitis. The main causes of acute laryngitis are virus or bacterial infection, excessive sound, tobacco and alcohol stimulation, resistance decline and so on. The main causes of chronic laryngitis are recurrent or prolonged acute laryngitis, dust or tobacco and alcohol stimulation, improper use of sound, chronic inflammation of adjacent organs spread.

The treatment methods of vocal cord inflammatory diseases include silence, removal of pathogenic factors, quitting smoking and drinking, atomization treatment. Patients with severe hoarseness can also be treated with oral antibiotics, hormones, sound pills and other drugs. The vast majority of patients can recover their normal voice after the above treatment.

2. Nodules and polyps of vocal cords are often due to improper use of sound

Vocal nodules are a common disease. The typical vocal nodules are symmetrical nodules at the anterior and middle third junctions of the bilateral vocal cords, which are one of the common causes of hoarseness.

This situation is more common in people who use voice or voice excessively, such as actors, teachers, interpreters, and so on. The symptoms are mainly hoarseness, the early degree is lighter, the sound is slightly coarse or basically normal, only feel tired when the sound is long, when good or bad, intermittent. Then gradually increased, from intermittent development to continuous.

Those with mild illness generally adopt the method of silence, let the vocal cords rest, and most of them can disappear by themselves. The nodules can be resected by laryngeal microsurgery under general anesthesia in patients who have failed to respond to general treatment and drug therapy. The sound was silenced for two weeks and nebulized inhalation therapy was performed.

Vocal cord polyps usually occur at the anterior and middle third junction of the vocal cord, and are translucent, white or pink smooth surface masses, mostly unilateral or bilateral. The causes are related to improper use of sound and excessive use of sound, smoking, endocrine disorders and allergic reactions. Upper respiratory tract lesions, such as colds, acute and chronic laryngitis, are also a type of inducement. The main symptom is prolonged hoarseness, the extent of which is related to the size and location of the polyp. The hoarseness degree of large polyps is more severe, which can block the glottis and cause inspiratory laryngeal wheezing and dyspnea. Surgical treatment is the main method.

3. Hoarse voice for more than 3 weeks to be alert to malignant changes

Laryngeal cancer is a common malignant tumor of head and neck, the incidence is second only to nasopharyngeal cancer, and male patients are more than female. It is divided into two types: primary and secondary. Primary laryngeal carcinoma refers to the primary site of laryngeal tumors, the most common squamous cell carcinoma. Secondary laryngeal cancer refers to metastasis from other malignant tumors and is relatively rare. Its symptoms are mainly hoarseness, dyspnea, cough, dysphagia, cervical lymph node metastasis, etc., the shape of cabbage, nodule or ulcer-like, often gray white or dark red.

Smoking, alcohol consumption, viral infections, environmental factors, radiation and sex hormones are common causes. For patients who smoke and drink for a long time and are over 40 years old, if hoarseness symptoms persist for more than three weeks, the possibility of laryngeal malignancy should be highly suspected. For example, glottic laryngeal cancer, the first symptom of patients is hoarseness, when the lesion develops to a certain extent, it will cause breathing difficulties, throat pain, blood in sputum and so on.

Surgery is the main treatment for patients with laryngeal cancer, and the principle of surgery is to completely remove the tumor tissue. For patients with poor physical conditions or who are not suitable for surgery, radiotherapy, chemotherapy and biological therapy are feasible.

4. Avoid "Whispering" after surgery

After receiving vocal cord surgery, patients with general anesthesia should fast and refrain from drinking water for 6 hours to prevent suffocation caused by vomiting. After local anesthesia, 6 hours after general anesthesia, it is recommended to eat semi-liquid diet, such as porridge, soup noodles, etc., the second day after surgery can be ordinary diet, but avoid irritating food, such as fried, fried, spicy, spicy food. Mild throat pain, phlegm and other discomfort is common, aerosol inhalation can relieve discomfort.

After the operation, the voice should be banned immediately for 3 days, and the habit of vigorously clearing the voice should be changed after discharge. This action will make the vocal cords instant tension collision, affect wound healing, even after recovery also need to avoid excessive sound.

At the same time, patients should also change bad habits, such as smoking, drinking, eating hot peppers, staying up late and drinking cold drinks after singing. These irritations can cause congestion and edema of the vocal cords, affecting wound healing and voice recovery. After 1 month to 3 months to see a doctor, by electronic laryngoscope review.

In addition, after a period of time to pay attention to less whispering. Whisper and whisper although the volume is very small, there is still a weak airflow vibration of the vocal cords, which is a very laborious way of speaking, especially when the vocal cords are diseased. When you have a cold, you should never talk in a whisper.

How to protect the voice?

1, strengthen physical exercise, enhance physical fitness, improve the resistance to upper respiratory tract infection; Reduce talking when you have a cold, drink more warm water, and pay attention to vocal cord maintenance.

2, eat less irritating food, avoid excessive use of voice, smoking alcohol.

3, teachers, literary and art workers should use the correct voice method, and not excessive voice; Limit talking time outside of work and reduce unnecessary long chats or phone calls.

4, develop the habit of speaking slowly, reduce the speed of speaking, if speaking quickly or even a series of words can be said to be out of breath, it will lead to improper sound.