Having had three surgeries on my right hand and N.A. on my left I made a decision to have Xialfex to treat my left hand since the N.A. only lasted 18 months before the disease returned.

I thought the hand surgeon could inject Xiaflex into all my cords during my one appointment in the left hand, but was told at the beginning of my appointment that only ONE injection could be administered on a monthly basis (something about FDA safety guidelines).

The Xiaflex injection into the one cord was actually 3 injections and yes, it was painful. He bandaged the hand and the next day I returned to receive two injections of an anesthetic (which was worse than the pain from the day before---during one attempt he actually hit a nerve and I jumped !). After the anesthetic was injected I waited about 10 minutes and then he manipulated my ring finger. There were three noticeable 'pops'. I then was fitted for a splint and was told to wear the splint at night. The Physical Therapist told me to be sure to stretch my hand and fingers every day (even to sit on the hand). I go back to the doctor in four weeks for a follow-up and another injection (that is, if I choose to continue Xiaflex as the treatment)

And this is where I am: at a standstill. Two days after the first Xiaflex injection I remain in considerable pain (taking Advil all day long) and not getting much relief. If I have to go through this seven more times, I am thinking that maybe surgery might be a better alternative. Even the hand surgeon told me that with surgery, all of the cords can be removed at one time and the PT is only about six weeks. The hand surgeon actually told me that there are people with Dupuytren's who elect surgery over the injections. Right now I am feeling like a rock between a hard place. I welcome any ideas or insight some of you might have as to what would be the best solution.

Abba,

The nice thing about my surgery was that there was very little pain. I saw the pictures beforehand and thought that it had to hurt. I took the pain pills the night of the surgery thinking that it was going to hurt badly. I never took any more of the pain pills after that. My surgeon said that he was surprised that hardly anyone complained about pain from the surgery. It looked much worse than it felt.