Hoarseness is a sign of vocal cord disease, so be sure to take it seriously!

In our daily life, we often experience symptoms such as sore throat, hoarseness, and cough after being tired, talking too much, or catching a cold. Sometimes after a few days of rest or taking medicine, the symptoms of hoarseness gradually improve, but sometimes the symptoms last for several days or even months. Experts remind: If your hoarseness does not improve for a long time, be careful of vocal cord disease! Hoarseness is a very common symptom. For example, influenza can cause various inflammations in the throat and cause hoarseness. Excessive use of the throat can also cause vocal cord disease and cause hoarseness. In terms of occupation, teachers, trainers, sales, customer service, anchors, window industry personnel and other groups with a high incidence of voice diseases are often troubled by diseases such as vocal cord nodules and vocal cord polyps.

The first type is hoarseness caused by inflammation or edema with milder symptoms.

For example, acute and chronic laryngitis and laryngeal edema caused by colds. This type of hoarseness can usually be restored after a period of symptomatic treatment and rest. This type of "loss of voice" is often related to occupations. For example, teachers, actors, hosts, telephone customer service personnel and other people who usually talk a lot can easily cause hoarseness due to excessive fatigue of the vocal cords, but as long as they rest properly, they can generally be effectively restored.

The second type of hoarseness is caused by organic lesions of the larynx.

These include benign lesions such as vocal cord nodules and vocal cord polyps, precancerous lesions such as laryngeal leukoplakia and laryngeal papilloma, and even laryngeal malignant tumors. It should be emphasized that the incidence of laryngeal cancer has been trending towards younger people in recent years. People know little about laryngeal cancer, but in fact, laryngeal cancer is currently the most common laryngeal malignant tumor. Among head and neck malignant tumors, its incidence rate is second only to nasopharyngeal cancer and thyroid cancer. The age of onset is mostly between 50 and 70 years old, and long-term smokers are more likely to suffer from this disease.

The third type is hoarseness caused by vocal cord paralysis.

It is divided into functional and organic types. If it is organic vocal cord paralysis, it may be caused by many reasons and needs to be confirmed by an ENT doctor.

Middle-aged and elderly people should be cautious

Experts say that normal hoarseness is caused by overuse of the throat or inflammation, and can usually be cured after a few days of rest. However, if hoarseness persists for more than 2 weeks and does not improve after initial treatment, you should be highly alert. You need to see a doctor in time and ask the doctor to use a laryngoscopy to determine the cause, rule out the possibility of laryngeal cancer, and provide symptomatic treatment.

Smoking, drinking, viral infection, environmental factors, and long-term exposure to radiation are common causes of laryngeal cancer. For patients who smoke and drink for a long time and are over 40 years old, if hoarseness persists for more than 2 weeks without improvement, the possibility of a malignant tumor in the larynx is highly suspected. For example, the first symptom of glottic laryngeal cancer is hoarseness. When the disease develops to a certain extent, it will cause symptoms such as difficulty breathing, sore throat, and blood in sputum.

The key to throat diseases is prevention. For people with more throat problems, they should avoid smoking, drinking, chili peppers and other irritating foods to avoid triggering symptoms. Drink warm water to keep the throat moist and protect important organs. Also pay attention to the combination of work and rest, and do not clear the throat frequently. "Explosive" throat clearing is not recommended.

To protect your voice, first of all, do not overuse your voice, control the volume, and try to avoid speaking loudly in a noisy or overly dry environment. Secondly, there are also some rules for speaking. Control your speaking speed and find a tone that suits you, without fluctuating. When you need to speak for professional reasons, it is recommended to speak with your breath and not speak forcefully. Take a simple rest after speaking for half an hour to reduce the burden on your vocal cords.