Thank you all for your feedback.

I'm typing this with a partially-bandaged hand: I did decide to go through with the surgery after getting a second (and third!) opinion. It seems the cysts are not related to Dupuytren's. The post-op is much better than I expected.

Hope you all have a happy and healthy new year.

Thanks -- I had both the cyst on the knuckle and the one below the thumb combined with trigger finger.

And the saga continues:

I went for my first post-op visit today to get the bandages off and start physical therapy. It was the first time I'd seen the doctor since my surgery (I was knocked out). He said that during surgery he saw that the cysts were "Dupuytren-ish" but also cyst like.

So there we go. Back to my initial suspicions.

Again, such a misunderstood disease.

Was your operation for Dupuytren's or cysts? Did they know the identity before the surgery? If they were Dupuytren's ... why have the surgery?

That doesn't sound good. Firstly, often it is best to let a ganglion cyst cure itself without surgery. I had one last year that went away on its own. Secondly, the surgery, if unnecessary, can produce other problems.

Like carrie I've had ganglions on the finger joints and also wrist. I left them alone since apart from the 'bump' they were usually not painful or interfering with anything. They have nearly all gone now, although a couple were persistent and stayed around for 2-3 years. I think a good hand doctor is able to differentiate on examination between a DD nodule and a cyst or ganglion. Certainly ProfS was able to do that with me, and explain the difference (he found a ganglion in the palm MCP joint I thought was a nodule).

So, if your bumps are in fact cysts or ganglions (which can come back after surgery if the joint sac or cyst sac is not closed properly) then I would leave them alone if they are not causing any trouble. If they are DD nodules, same thing until or unless they spread, harden, cords develop. Then consider options for treatment. But your doctor should be giving the advice.

We do constantly hear reports on here from people who have had hand surgery for something other than DD only to develop DD modules.