Hey! I'm new... and I've had a question about Dupuytren's - as far as the average age it is usually detected. My father was diagnosed just two years ago, at age 54. I started feeling pain in my palm at age 19. At first, we thought it was a cyst, but later realized what it was. It is supposed to be rare in women and even more rare at such a young age. I still feel very strong pain - especially when grasping things like doorknobs. How unusual is my pain combined with the young age?

I first noticed a painful nodule in my palm when I was 21 years old. I have since been diagnosed with dupuytren's diathesis and also have garrod's pads (knuckle pads) on all fingers.

I have no family history (although both my grandfathers died in their early 50's so may have had the disease but it had not presented yet), no precursers to the disease like epilepsy, alcoholism or diabetes and I am a woman. I do have insulin resistance though which I control with diet and I believe it may slow the progression of my dupuytrens. I am heavily into heath and fitness and hope this will also help.

I am now 25 years old and the nodule is quite large, I have developed a cord and have some contracture but can still place my hand flat. Unfortunately a nerve in my hand has been caught up in the nodule so I experience tingling/pins and needles in my two affected fingers. This is just unlucky.

I hope your experience is very slow to progress. From what information I have gathered, it can be very upsetting when you present at such an abnormally early age as the prognosis is somewhat bleak. Best of luck to you :)

Gecko,

Not to take away from his original question, but have you looked into radiation? I have a nodule and cord w/o contracture, but do have pulling, puckering and dimpling. I just finished my radiation and my hand looks and feels great.

Lori

Thankyou for the advice :)

I have my next appointment in July 2010 and I will discuss radiotherapy but as it stands I am reluctant to go down that path.

I also got it at a young age

Im currently a 24 year old male and I think I first showed signs midway between 22 and 23 (I say think because I dismissed the nodules and contracture as something that would go away at first)

Mine developed fairly rapidly im told leading to me having surgery on January 28th this year

Problem is while from what iv read and experienced it is generally more aggressive the younger you are that is only a general trend and it is really quite random