A laryngoscopy is a test, which will allow your doctor a closer look at your larynx and throat. The larynx is your voice box that is positioned at the peak of your windpipe or medically known as a trachea.
It’s very crucial to keep your larynx healthy as it seats your vocal folds or the vocal cords. Air advancing through your larynx and beyond the vocal folds appeals to them to vibrate and generate sound, which gives us the ability to speak.
A voice specialist doctor or most commonly known as an ENT doctor will oversee the test. During the test, your doctor will position a tiny mirror into your throat or might place a viewing device called a laryngoscope into your mouth to assess the condition.
Laryngoscopy: Why do you need this?
The procedure is used to learn or find out certain condition in your throat that includes,
- Persistent cough
- Bloody cough
- Hoarseness
- Throat pain
- Bad breathe
- Difficulty swallowing
- Earache
Laryngoscopy: The preparation
You’ll want to organize for a ride to and from the clinic as you may not be in a condition to drive for a few hours after taking anesthesia.
Consult with your doctor about how they will carry out the test, and what you need to do to get ready for it. If it is about your child, first make sure that you have consulted with a specialist ENT doctor for child. Your doctor may ask you to keep away from food and drink for eight hours (no breakfast) prior to the test depending on what type of anesthesia you’ll be given.
If you’re getting mild anesthesia, which is most commonly given if the test were happening in your doctor’s clinic, there’s no need to hurry.
Make sure to tell your doctor about any medications that you’re taking right now or have other ENT conditions. You will be asked to restrict yourself from taking certain medications, like aspirin and specific blood-thinning drugs like clopidogrel (Plavix), for at least one week before the test. Check with your doctor to be double sure about the safety to cease any advised medication before doing so.
Laryngoscopy: How does it work?
Your ENT doctor will carry out some tests before the laryngoscopy to have a better idea of your symptoms, which may include:
- A physical exam
- chest X-ray
- CT scan
- barium swallow
If your ENT doctor in Singapore advised you do barium swallow, X-rays will be done after you drink a liquid that has the barium in it. These components work as a disparity material and will authorize your doctor to review your throat more clearly. It’s non-toxic and not dangerous in any way, and is supposed to advance through your system within a few hours of swallowing it.
Laryngoscopy usually takes somewhere in between 30-45 minutes and there are two kinds of laryngoscopy tests are done at the ENT clinics.
- Indirect Laryngoscopy
- Direct Laryngoscopy
Laryngoscopy: Are there any side effects that you should be aware of?
There is comparatively less risk of impediments correlated with the Laryngoscopy test. You may feel slight irritations to the soft tissue in your throat after the test, but the Laryngoscopy test is regarded as very safe overall.
Allow yourself some healing time to recover if you are getting general anesthesia in direct laryngoscopy. The effect of anesthesia may take about two to three hours to fade, and you must avoid driving after the test at any cost.
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