[Personal and social identity transformations that occur over time among patients with total laryngectomy].

Objective: To examine personal and social identity transformations that occur over time among patients treated for laryngeal carcinoma with total laryngectomy.

Method: Patients with laryngectomy and their family underwent interviews by a sociologist and a head and neck surgeon.

Results: The diagnosis of cancer fills the patient's mind with images of suffering and death. Their life trajectory is more often a downward spiral. Patients are so stigmatized by the neoplasic illness that they become marginal and live in social isolation.

Conclusion: Being laryngectomized completely transforms patients' lives because this surgery induces their topple into the world of the disabled. Total laryngectomy has a negative connotation in our society. Therapists should take this reality into account and intensify their involvement before and especially after surgery.