Tracheal Shave

Q: Dr. Eppley, I am interested in the tracheal shave procedure. I am a young female with a trachea that protrudes out quite a bit especially while looking up. I’ve been self-conscious about it for almost my entire life, since puberty. I’ve consulted with another surgeon and she believes she can go in through a scar I already have under my chin. I was curious if you’d be able to to do the same? I’d really rather not have a visible scar on my neck. Thank you for your consideration!

A:There are two approaches to the tracheal shave procedure, a submental and direct incision techniques. While there are two incisions to approach it, the reduction results will not be the same. Having done it both ways, the submental approach will achieve about 50% of the reduction that the direct approach will. The direct approach uses a 2.5 cm long incision in a skin wrinkle line right above or over the tracheal prominence. The submental incision uses a 3.5 cm long incision under the chin. It comes down to how much tracheal reduction you will find acceptable as well as the location of the fine line scar.

Dr. Barry Eppley

Indianapolis, Indiana