Dupuytrens contracture/disease

OK guys and gals, got in my left hand ( ring finger pulley in palm and little finger pulley at base of finger - contracting the finger)

it's a fibrous cyst encompassing the pulleys, so not so easy to eradicate as a ganglion, or liquid filled cyst

seeing a hand specialist at john radcliffe, oxford, at some point

your experiences please..

Have this, and had an operation 2 years ago to free the tendons. It depends how advanced it is - the specialist might advice physio. In my case I left it too long and an operation was necessary, including a skin graft from my upper arm. Have some hairs growing on the inside skin of my little finger now for my sins :)

Do not have it but worked for a number of years developing the manufacturing process of one of the current treatments (injectable collagenase, Xiaflex/Xiapex) so have a bit of knowledge and understanding round that. My bro in law had pretty severe cases in both hands on multiple fingers, had operations and is now playing acoustic guitar like a wizard again. I tried to get him to let me inject him with some early trial Xiaflex but strangely, he didn't want to know and put his faith in the real doctors instead....

thanks for feedback, let's see if the hospital go for the injections

update:

options as laid out by consultant

1 - do nothing, it will probably get worse

2 - have injections, according to feedback there are 47% of cases where it aggravates the condition/does nothing. For the 53% of successes the average remission length before it returns is 5 years. also not available in oxfordshire PCT on NHS, so £600 a shot, hmm..

3a - fasciectomy under local anaesthesia (they cut the nodule(s) out). They won't do as I'm on anti-coagulants, and there is an elevated risk of an upper body clot from the IV puncture travelling to brain

which leaves

3b - fasciectomy under general anaesthesia. I'm deffo not keen on that as there are risks from complications on going under, and as it's not for life threatening surgery..

I chickened out and took option 1

Bummer, that's not good news. Are you losing much function in the affected fingers yet?
Also, did they not offer needle aponeurotomy? Or is your specific contracture not suitable for this treatment? Or radiation treatment?
I didn't realise the collagenase injections had such a low success rate, but I suspected it might not be widely available on the NHS as it is a fucking pain to manufacture and therefore expensive.
You never know, it might not get worse and hopefully does not affect you too much.

grabbing things is ok, it's when putting hands in jackets/pockets that it catches. it's at appx 75 deg and has been for over a year, no further contracture.

regarding the two other options, they weren't mentioned as viable alternatives

I have this condition as well. The chord seems to attach to the small finger though no contracture has happened yet. Going back to the consultant in February as a 6 month revisit and will consider options. In that time what was a pea sized lump has lengthened in to the classic chord shape. I think I would personally go for the fasciectomy, cut out the problem, get off work on the sick.

What kind of timescale did you notice your finger start to pull towards the palm? I have only had the condition for around 6 months.

18 months to this, finger pulling in noticeable in last 12.

the trigger seemed to be shoveling out and raking 12 bulk bags of gravel, caused initial swelling which never went away.

the ring finger palm is the one that's worsening at the moment

Nightmare. I broke a knuckle in my teens and the area was never the same, the knuckle hurts often, the trauma might have had an influence.

getting old sucks, part deux..

so, left shoulder lately frozen, or suffering from adhesive capsulitis, and guess what one of the contributing factors is linked?

yes, dupuytren's...

fml