Sorry, this has nothing to do with watches...

About a year and a half ago I noticed that my right index finger was bent slightly. It slowly progressed and I had it diagnosed 6 months later as dupuytren's contracture. It’s apparently rare to have it in an index finger, and only in one finger, but that’s my deal apparently. Doctor advised not to treat (surgery) until it interferes with things. I am right handed, but it hasn’t been an issue....until recently. It is now causing pain in two circumstances - one I can tell the doctor about with a straight face and the other, discovered this evening, I can’t. The former is when I am doing pushups (pressure on the bent finger hurts), the latter is when I am making a martini...holding the finger on the cap of the cocktail shaker hurts. That last one seems to be telling me that it is time for surgery

Seriously though, does anyone else here have this and has had it treated? Maybe this isn’t a big enough pool to find someone that does, but if you do, I’d really like to hear how things went if you had it corrected.

 

Disclaimer: I'm not a doctor, nor do I play on on TV.

Surgery for serious cases, steroid shot from your doctor might provide a short term solution.

A friend's parent had this.

 

Thanks, That’s Interesting. I don’t understand how steroids could help here, because this is not an inflammatory condition. But I will ask about it. There is a non surgical option I am aware of, but its effectiveness is questionable (it’s some sort of enzymic degradation of the contracting fibers in the hand that cause the symptom). The surgical option physically cuts/removes those fibers...but even so, they can reoccur.

 

I have Dupuytrens Contracture of the pinkie on my right hand. When I first brought it to my doctor’s attention several years ago, I thought it was a ganglion cyst. Not so! It is getting worse as time passes, but my hand isn’t impaired greatly by it. This malady (apparently) is common among people of Nordic countries. My paternal grandfather was a Scot, living in the Orkney Islands, not too far from the coast of Norway (about 300 kms), so I don’t know if that would count. My MD has said it is operable, but as an octogenarian, I likely won’t bother. Just be happy you don’t have Dupuytrens SARCOMA! Look it up!

 

I had surgery to my right hand in 2007 for Dupuytren's. It effected my ring finger. Took 40 stitches to close it all up. Have had no issues in the right hand since, but it started on my left hand a few years ago...thumb and pinky finger. Last year I had the pinky finger straightened out with injections, rather than surgery. That's the way to go...much much less recovery. They inject something into the 'cord', which felt like nasty bee stings. Returned 2 days later and the doctor numbed the area with lidocaine, then grabbed my finger and snapped it straight.

When you're ready, look into the injection rather than surgery.

 

The steroids are useful if a tender nodule or inflammation around the tendons is present - in which case they have been shown to reduce the number of patients who will end up requiring surgery (study here). Collagenase, the enzyme you mention, is another first-line treatment for mild disease (≤ 30 degrees of contracture at the first knuckles only) with good clinical outcomes observed in this large study. In addition to these treatment options for mild disease, there is also needle aponeurotomy and percutaneous fasciotomy (the surgery you mentioned) that are associated with ~60% recurrence and ~40% recurrence, respectively. I recommend letting your doctor know what is bothering you and having a discussion with him/her.

... said no doctor ever!

 

My brother had two surgeries to correct his pinky while ago. No complaints about procedure.

 

Some good info here indeed, wasn't aware of the Collagenase option, will research that.

In my own case the symptoms came on very rapidly but later in life, 52 53 years old, a lot of cases manifest at a much earlier age.

 

I never heard of this malady until I saw it on tv and they were advertising a treatment for it ... It's called Xiaflex. Don't know if this is the same injection treatment already mentioned or something new.

 

A colleague’s husband had it successfully treated by surgery. I recall they were very careful about checking for infection, presumably because it’s the hand.

 

Thanks for all the replies and great information. I hav the right genetics - caucasian from Britain, and my Dad's brother apparently had this. Anyway, I will have to do something about it eventually because it is progressing fairly quickly, I'm "only" in my early 50s, and I have it in a really important finger (index finger of my dominant hand). The good news is that the hand specialist I have been seeing is not pushing surgery - quite the opposite in fact - he has advised me to wait as long as I possibly can. He hasn't raised the collagenase treatment option though (BTW, John Elway does those TV commercials here in the US) - so I will discuss that with him and see what he thinks.

Thanks again everyone!

 

The little pinkie on my left hand is supposed to have this (which I guess means I am supposed to have it). Two docs have diagnosed it but only by examination and X-ray- I would be interested to try a genetic test. Nobody in my family (to my knowledge) has had this. I have injured this finger twice before this started and I got the diagnosis (once cut it to the bone)and the finger has some deep scars - but docs are insistent it is Dupuytren's contracture and not related to any accidents. It has not caused me any issues but the first doctor recommend I measure the deflection and track to see if it gets worse (it has not). I don't fancy surgery or injections but I do have a clamp to 'straighten' it briefly and keep the finger in working order / stretch the tendon a bit. Maybe that is why it has not got any worse. I like to think this is Depardieu syndrome …. caused by too much good living, bad behaviour and gripping magnum bottles :0)
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