Do I have vocal damage?

Matheus221

I'm 17. I think I have some kind of voice damage but I'm not sure of it.
I take singing classes and at the beginning of it, my teacher told me that something was odd cause she'd listen to some not clean sounds, like if my voice was a little bit dirty, with mucus, in certain notes. She made some trainings with me and after some weeks, those 'dirty sounds' had disappeared almost completely while singing. (Looking back to when I didn't take lessons, I remember that I used to sing high notes, clearly out of my range and forcing my voice obviously without technique, so that may be why).

But the thing is, I still feel that my throat is somehow not completely cleaned sometimes before the warmup (and even when I'm not singing, but it's more frequent while doing so) so I feel like coughing a little bit to try take this mucus out, and it does relieve me (for a while), but I don't know if that's recommended. Is it ok? Is it some kind of vocal damage signals?
My real concern right now is about this persistent coughing and some ocasional soreness (usually a day after practice)

Klaus_T

try to not make this "clearing your throat" thing a habit. it is bad and damages your cords. most likely, you have weak support which causes the "dirty" sound, and potentially you also have some mucus issues. i can't say whether you already have vocal damage. probably not, but there is no guarantee. if you want to be extra sure, go and see a doctor. you can try to do the tips from Ken's video about mucus (it's free on youtube, you'll fnd it). also, drink lots of water