What to Know About the Adam’s Apple

‌The angle at which your Adam’s apple is located around the voice box typically decides how much it will stand out. Women have a much wider angle, meaning that their Adam’s apple sits flush against the voice box, which leads to a less prominent Adam’s apple.

In general, excessive hormones, mainly testosterone , produced at puberty decide the size of your Adam’s apple. A woman may have a larger Adam’s apple if she has high levels of testosterone, especially during puberty. The enlargement of the Adam’s apple is often accompanied by other signs like an increase in acne and body hair and a deepened voice.

‌A size of the Adam’s apple is a secondary sexual characteristic— meaning that it shows up differently at puberty based on whether you are male or female. ‌ It is typically larger and more prominent in men, as it contains a larger voice box compared to that in women. Men develop a larger voice box than women during puberty. So a larger Adam’s apple may be linked to having a deep voice.

Surgery on the Adam’s Apple

There aren’t many medical reasons to have surgery on your Adam’s apple. In most cases, such surgery is used for cosmetic purposes. For example, a laryngeal shave — also known as a chondrolaryngoplasty — is a procedure used to lessen the size of your Adam’s apple. 

While laryngeal shave isn’t a major surgical procedure, you may need some recovery time. You’ll need to rest your voice as much as possible for the few days following surgery. Your surgeon may also advise that you avoid solid foods during this time.

On the other hand, you may want to make your Adam’s apple bigger. This is known as Adam’s apple augmentation and is generally performed by a plastic surgeon. It is needed because hormone therapy doesn’t always guarantee an increase in the size of your Adam’s apple. 

During the augmentation surgery, your surgeon will create an implant from your own cartilage — usually taken from your ribcage — and attach it to your thyroid cartilage in the neck. This will increase the size of your Adam’s apple and give you a more masculine appearance.

Another common Adam’s apple surgery is cartilage graft, which is used to treat windpipe defects in young children and infants.