Forum of Dupuytren Society

Greetings Fellow DD Sufferers:

At least for those of us in California, we have much to be grateful for.

Specifically, we should be thankful that we have two wonderful Golden State Certified Hand Surgeons, both of whom happen to be good guys.

To my knowledge, I'm the first of us to have the privilege of having both of these Docs on my team.

My story follows…

When I first learned about N.A. (on this site), I knew that I wanted to try N.A. (as opposed to “open surgery”).

Because Dr. Keith Denkler’s name was the one I first saw on this site, I made an appointment & planned a trip to San Francisco to see him.

After I set the appointment with Dr. Denkler, I learned (again, from this site) that Dr. Prosper Benhaim of UCLA also has experience with N.A.

Although I had already set in motion the NA wheels with Dr. Denkler, I somewhat sheepishly set an appointment with Dr. Benhaim. After all, I live in Orange County, so it’s a lot easier to get to LA than to San Fran.

Thus, as it turned out, my initial appointment was with Dr. Benhaim in Los Angeles.

Benhaim was terrific – friendly, bright, concerned. That’s what I needed, because I was scared, scared, scared.

When I told Dr. Benhaim that I had already contacted Dr. Denkler, Dr. Benhaim proceeded to praise Dr. Denkler. Benhaim said that he did not want to discourage me from seeing Dr. Denkler, and offered to serve as my “local” CHS.

Dr. Benhaim then sent his report to Dr. Denkler. That was great, because it gave me a head start on the N.A. even before I saw Keith Denkler.

Then on 8/16/06 I showed up at Dr. Denkler’s door (in Marin County) for my NA.

Wow! Another terrific guy – gregarious, respectful, even fun to talk with.

After my NA procedure, I almost went back to Keith’s office to invite him to lunch.

And, you know what? Had I done so, I really think Keith would have taken the time to dine with my wife Julie & me. Maybe next time we're up North!

Regarding the N.A. itself, I’m very pleased with the results. It hurt a bit when Dr. Denkler injected the local anesthetic & some Kenalog (a form of cortisone). Other than that, it was fine – just some crunchy noises when Dr. Denkler snapped the Dupuytren's cords.

Incidentally, my primary N.A. was for a contraction in both the PIP joint (i.e., the second joint) & the first joint of the ring finger in my right hand.

Dr. Denkler also did a “small N.A.” for a cord that was developing near the thumb on my left hand.

Last Friday (8/16) I trundled back to UCLA to see Dr. Benhaim for a post-N.A. evaluation.

Dr. Benhaim said my hands look great.

Here’s the bottom line: if you’re in California, you have two terrific Docs here to serve you.

I highly recommend both Denkler & Benhaim.

If you’re really lucky (like I am), you’ll have both of these superstars on your team.

Mark

Thanks for sharing your story Mark. I had surgery on my right hand 5 years ago for Dups and now its in my left hand. I'm not at a point of having surgery, but this time I am going to do NA. I'm here in Phoenix, so a trip to CA might happen. I have an appointment with my doc here in January and will decide at that point. My doc is a great surgeon because he did a great job on my right hand, but I don't want OS next time.

Thanks again for the recommendation.

KurtK

That's great to hear Mike! Congrats. Who else there is to thank are a ton of names from old posts who worked hard to get NA accepted in the US starting *five* years ago. Walt Stagner especially, as it was on his little DVD that Eaton first saw French NA. That was the beginning of the beginning in the US. We are all the beneficiaries of that moment about three years ago now.

could you please forward Dr Benhaim's contact information--- and confirm the spelling of his name. Thanks for the help---chuck

could you please forward Dr Benhaim's contact information--- and confirm the spelling of his name. Thanks for the help---chuck