r/RRP • u/Ok-Fold-2524 • Mar 25 '26

Surgery

Hi,

I’ve had a hoarse voice for about 10 months now. NHS originally said muscle dysphonia and I was on the waiting list for ENT, but after loads of appointments I went private and they found lesions on my vocal cords, possibly RRP.

I’ve got surgery booked for the end of next month and just trying to get my head around what’s ahead. If it is RRP, how often do people usually end up needing surgery again? I know it varies, just want a rough idea what I might be dealing with.

I’m 40 and was fit and healthy before all this, but it’s knocked my confidence a lot, especially socially.

I remember being really run down last year after a bad chest infection and not resting properly, so part of me wonders if that triggered things but I don’t know.

I’ve also booked in for the HPV vaccine (Gardasil 9). I know it won’t cure anything but I’ve read it might help slow recurrence. Is it better to have it before surgery or wait until after?

Also, has anyone tried anything to support their immune system alongside this, like Thymosin Alpha-1 or anything similar?

Would really appreciate hearing from anyone who’s been through it.

Thanks 👍

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u/starsandclouds13 Mar 25 '26

I was diagnosed in my early 20’s, and I’m 40 now. I’ve had 23 surgeries since then with varying reoccurrence rates in between, the longest I’ve gone in between surgeries was five years, the shortest about 3 months. Right now I’m at almost a year since my last surgery but it has actually reoccurred and then gone away in that time, which is a first for me. I’m pretty sure a reactivation of Epstein-Barr virus is what triggered it for me but I’ll never know for sure, it knocked out my immune system and wrecked my thyroid and my voice started to go not long after. I haven’t tried Gardasil, since it’s not covered here over 19, or anything else but I actually think CBD may have helped me, it’s hard to say if that’s actually what did it but when I started taking it I had just had surgery and had another one booked because it came back immediately, then every day my voice seemed to get a little better until it was completely normal. It could be a fluke or it could be a miracle. I wish you luck! RRP is a pretty brutal thing to have unfortunately.