Shelby Stockton is joined by new Texas ENT physician, Dr. Malia Gresham. Dr. Gresham is a laryngologist, handling problems with the larynx, also known as the voice box, as well as airway and swallowing problems.
Shelby Stockton (00:00):
Welcome to the Texas ENT Audio Blog. I'm Shelby Stockton. We're always excited to welcome a new doctor to our team, and today I got to do just that with Dr. Malia Gresham, an ENT with subspecialty training in laryngology. We chatted about why she's drawn to ear, nose, and throat, her areas of expertise, and she gives advice on some indicators that may be telling you it's time to go see a doctor. I had a great time with Dr. Gresham. She's personable and knowledgeable and easy to talk to. Take a few minutes to get to know her yourself.
Hi, Dr. Gresham.
Dr. Malia Gresham (00:35):
Hey, how's it going?
Shelby Stockton (00:36):
It's going great, and I'm so excited because you're a newbie to Texas ENT, so I'm here to welcome you and get to know you a little better.
Dr. Malia Gresham (00:46):
Oh, thank you so much. I'm really grateful to be here.
Shelby Stockton (00:49):
So my first question for you is why ear, nose and throat?
Dr. Malia Gresham (00:53):
Well, medicine in general has always been a calling for me. I knew I wanted to be a doctor when I was six, and I knew I wanted to be a surgeon when I was in high school, but I didn't really decide on ENT until medical school when I experienced the field for the first time. I think I was drawn to the variety of problems and patients, kind of both the breadth and the depth of the field. Of course, all doctors help patients, but I felt like in ear, nose, and throat, I had an opportunity to help people with problems that really impact their life in such a significant way. Problems with their voice, with hearing, with swallowing, with breathing, all of these issues that impact people's lives so deeply and affect their ability to communicate with others. I think the work just felt really meaningful to me.
But after I decided on ENT and started my residency, I then decided to pursue further subspecialty training via a fellowship in the field of laryngology. And this is just because I fell in love with the larynx. That's also called the voice box. It's such an interesting and complex organ. And kind of similar on how I decided on ENT, laryngology just felt so right because I love helping people with their voice, breathing, and swallowing issues. So it's kind of a convoluted path, but I just feel really lucky to be here now doing the work that I knew I wanted to do when I was a little kid.
Shelby Stockton (02:26):
That's a great segue to my next question. What are your areas of expertise?
Dr. Malia Gresham (02:31):
Well, I'm a laryngologist, so that means that I have specialty fellowship level training in problems with the larynx, also known as the voice box, as well as airway and swallowing problems. I can treat any number of issues with the voice, so vocal cord lesions, including nodules, polyps, cysts, fibrous masses, vocal cord scars, papillomas of the vocal cords in the voice box, functional voice problems, vocal cord paralysis or paresis, any number of issues that can sometimes arise with the aging voice. Neurological voice issues, so things like vocal cord tremor and spasmodic dysphonia and just a whole bunch of others.
And then furthermore, I have had extensive training in airway problems, so including stenosis or scarring in the trachea, or what we call the windpipe, subglottic stenosis, supraglottic stenosis, which is scarring above the vocal cords. And I've had training in both endoscopic and open surgery for treatment of airway problems. And then finally, I've had training in swallowing problems in surgery as well.
Shelby Stockton (03:43):
Wow. That's a long list of things you can do. What's something that patients can watch out for that may be an indicator that they should come in and see you?
Dr. Malia Gresham (03:53):
I think the biggest thing is any kind of voice problem, so vocal roughness or hoarseness, as we say, losing your voice really frequently, vocal breathiness or weakness, voice changes as you get a little older, voice changes immediately after a surgery, especially a breathy voice immediately after a surgery. Any of these issues really warrant an evaluation by a laryngologist. Trouble with your voice can be related to any number of things, and I think there usually are just more solutions available than people realize for their voice trouble. I also have a special interest in helping professional voice users and performing voice users, and I've had specific training on that in my fellowship.
And furthermore, I hope to grow a large portion of my practice dedicated to helping people with their airway issues, specifically stenosis or scarring in the trachea. If a patient has shortness of breath and stridor, which is a high-pitched breathing noise, especially when exerting themselves, they should definitely see someone like me for an evaluation. In my clinic, I'll have the ability to do a diagnostic procedure called a tracheal bronchoscopy to look at the windpipe to see if there's any scarring there. There's a problem called idiopathic subglottic stenosis, which is a narrowing of the airway at the very top of the windpipe that's common in middle-aged females. And this will go undiagnosed for years, and it really just kind of always breaks my heart that they struggle for so long. So really any kind of strider or high-pitched breathing noise, especially on exertion warrants and evaluation.
And then finally, if a patient has a cough that's been going on for months or years and has been unable to be treated with a typical workup of reflux testing and treatment, pulmonary workup and treatment, treatment for chronic cough... or sorry, treatment for chronic sinus or allergy issues, then they may have something called neurogenic cough, and this is basically a nerve hypersensitivity cough, which needs to be treated differently. And there's a number of options available for this problem, including a nerve block to the nerve that controls sensation to the throat, medicines called neuromodulators, cough suppression therapy. There's patients that struggle with their cough or just years and years and have been to so many different doctors trying to figure it out, and it's really neat to be able to help these people that have struggled with it for so long.
Shelby Stockton (06:21):
What excites you about starting this new journey at Texas ENT?
Dr. Malia Gresham (06:26):
I'm just so excited to finally get to do the thing that I've wanted to do for so long. Medicine has always been a sacred calling for me. And for me, it's always been about taking care of the patients. And that's the thing that really just brings so much joy and meaning to my life, is taking really good care of my patients. And I've been in training for so long to be able to do that, and I'm really excited to finally embark on that adventure.
Shelby Stockton (06:56):
That's awesome. We're really excited to have you, so can't wait to see you in the hallway.
Dr. Malia Gresham (07:02):
Yeah, I'm excited.
