Brian,

I am a little surprised that you had two surgeries without contracture and even without a cord. That's quite unusual. Years ago I myself was refused surgery because my contracture wasn't big enough. I then had it a couple of years later. Usually sugreons only operate if you have at least 20-30 deg of contracture.

Being older is actually better with respect to recurrence. The older you are the later you experience recurrence. I guess everything slows down when you get older, even Dupuytren's ... You probably had surgery for a contracted PIP (= middle) joint of your pinkie. That's the worst joint of the hand for Dupuytren's surgery and the disease on the PIP joint of the pinkie usually comes back relatively fast, after surgery but also after NA or Xiaflex.

Wolfgang

brianprice:

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... Two of my surgeries were on nodules with no cords or contracture of the finger - and I have had no reoccurences there 30 years and 15 years later. The last surgery was on a contracted pinkie with cords - and there I got an immediate reoccurrence. But I'm also much older - maybe that's a factor.

My first surgeon did not know it was Dupuytrens until he operated. The nodule was growing so fast he thought it might be cancer - but his procedure did work with no reoccurrence in that spot. However another nodule started developing in the palm next to it, which eventually another doc operated on successfully.

It is the pinkie that has been most problematic. The first surgeon I went to said I should wait as long as I could before surgery since the reoccurrence rate is very high there. We will see if the same is true with Xiaflex for me.

wach:

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Brian,

I am a little surprised that you had two surgeries without contracture and even without a cord. That's quite unusual. Years ago I myself was refused surgery because my contracture wasn't big enough. I then had it a couple of years later. Usually sugreons only operate if you have at least 20-30 deg of contracture.

Being older is actually better with respect to recurrence. The older you are the later you experience recurrence. I guess everything slows down when you get older, even Dupuytren's ... You probably had surgery for a contracted PIP (= middle) joint of your pinkie. That's the worst joint of the hand for Dupuytren's surgery and the disease on the PIP joint of the pinkie usually comes back relatively fast, after surgery but also after NA or Xiaflex.

Wolfgang

brianprice:

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... Two of my surgeries were on nodules with no cords or contracture of the finger - and I have had no reoccurences there 30 years and 15 years later. The last surgery was on a contracted pinkie with cords - and there I got an immediate reoccurrence. But I'm also much older - maybe that's a factor.

fyi i HAD NODULES IN FINGERS AND PALMS.......CORIZONE INJECTIONS SOFTENED AND DISOLVED THEM OVER TIME..

{ NA for contractures }

LubaM.:

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I have a badly contracted PIP joint in small finger of right hand, tried NA twice on it, with two different doctors (Dr. Eaton and Dr. Denkler), both great and top in the field...Both times the contracture returned within six months to the same degree as before NA. Now the PIP joint, small finger left hand is starting to contract.

I feel lucky that I only have a few nodules and dimples in the rest of both hands, and being a fine artist the bent pinkies being the only problems, so far, don't interfere with my holding the paint brushes. I will patiently wait to see long term results for Xiaflex to decide if I want to subject myself to the unpleasant side effects and possible painful procedure. I am just hoping that two bent pinkies will be all I have for a while.

Have you tried custom splints for your little finger PIP contractures? I know everyone is different, so this may not work for you, but I have had great results with using splinting for a little finger PIP contracture, and so far have not needed to try either NA or Xiaflex. (Knock on wood...) If you're interested, see my post of just a few minutes ago in the thread on splinting before contracture.
Best wishes,
Maddie

Maddie,
With both NA's I had hand therapy and custom splints made. The problem (both times) was that the splints were made of moldable material and within a couple of months the contracture came back and the splint didn't fit because the PIP joint would hit against the splint and it was too painful to wear... it took only a couple of months to start bending, but within six months the PIP contracture was back to its original position.

Happy that splinting has worked for you, this weird disease is so different for all of us !

Thanks for your suggestion
Luba M.

Edited 10/17/12 06:27