I can't offer a personal recommendation, but Dr Manet Chopin comes up regularly on the forum with good feedback.

Allan; I have been seeing Dr Manet Chopin for the past 7-8 years. She is very good and is getting more skilled each time I see her. If you send her and email with photographs she will respond. mariepascalemanetchopin@sfr.fr

She does NA for Dupuytrens on Friday afternoons. You can make an appointment by email and she will see you at a precise time with consultation and NA on the spot. For one hand you will be in and out in 20 minutes.


Seph

Cathy88:

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I am brand new to this whole thing. Had no idea what was going on with my little finger until last Thursday. Figured it was just a little easy to remove cyst. So surprised. Never heard of this. Doctor said very little; just scheduled surgery for 3 weeks. I came home and read about it, called his assistant, and found out it IS a big deal. I have nobody to do the things I do; take care of 4 dogs and parrots, plus I live in a bi=level house. I am a journalist and need to type. Write a weekly column, plus don't want a painful hand, full of scar tissue. I have the beginning of another one between the pointer finger and one by it, on my right hand. I suffer from anxiety anyway, and have other health issues. Am scared to death. I read there is the option of injections; where is this? I am in Indiana. If I do nothing, what is the worse thing? I am 74
Can it be just an easy thing and I am back to normal after healing? Have had bad experience with doctors so I am not ready to just get my hand cut open and regret it later.

My father's Dupuytrens progressed to the point that he underwent surgery--ultimately on both hands--and paid the price of the contractures reoccurring in both hands and leaving horrible scars in the process. Four years ago, what I thought was a callous at the base of my little finger on my palm was the first evidence of this horrible, degenerative disease. Within a year, sub-surface cords migrated their way up each of the two smaller fingers on that hand, resulting in the pinky being pulled inward, almost to the point of touching my palm. Being a pianist plus typing a lot on a computer keyboard, I was especially affected by this condition and sought out as much information as I could in order to develop the "right" treatment plan. 3 of the 6 specialists I saw (all in Michigan) promoted surgery as my option. A 4th said he wouldn't even touch my situation due to the concentration of cords in the little finger alone, being fearful of cutting a valuable nerve or tendon. The Xiaflex website had a link to view doctors in my area based on a zip code search that had administered the chemical "at least 12 times" in the recent year. I proceeded to define the top 3 and decided I would visit each, to determine who I would choose to proceed with this treatment. I ended up with Dr. Gregory Sobol in Beverly Hills, a Detroit suburb, although he was not (by far) the closest to me, nor was he the most experienced (#3 in the list actually). However he seemed to exude the type of confidence you'd want from a doctor, plus he was young (mid 40s?) and extremely intelligent. I underwent two separate procedures last year--one reserved for the little finger alone due to the delicate nature of treating a small area filled with this disease--and as of this writing--approximately 5 months after the most recent procedure--I am happy to report that I continue to have at least 90% restoration of my normal function. The only caveat is that because the pinky was so mangled by the cords that had ultimately enveloped around tendons and nerves, it appears to have suffered some permanent deforming, in that its knuckle is the only part of that finger--looking at it sideways when all of my fingers are erect, from the backside--that aligns with the rest of the fingers. I have a sort of "ski slope" shape that drops on either side of the knuckle. Handshakes, piano playing, wrapping my fingers around a golf club handle, etc. all seem to be fine and "normal". There's just that bit of visual deformity, however I'd have to mention it to someone for them to notice. Based on all the research I've done--reading reviews included--the Xiaflex option is a "love-hate" There's hardly a patient review that's not passionate about it--good and bad. For me: I'd do it again I think, in the absence of anything else that may present from here on out as viable option. To me, it's the lesser of the available evils. My summary of Xiaflex is: The GOOD: It works, and it's relatively low impact (I was fully operational within 30 days and could use the fingers within a few days); The BAD: It's costly (after Medicare covered their share, each session cost me approximately $800 out of pocket), and the procedure is very painful, as far as the injections themselves, and particularly the "breaking of the cords" session which occurs 2-4 days after the injection session.

Edited 01/11/19 02:11

Hi Else,

first of all, welcome to our forum! I am sure you will find good advice and answers to your question here.

It might be good to familiarize yourself a little with this disease (it is indeed called a disease) and a start might be this page https://www.dupuytren-online.info/dupuyt...ontracture.html . If you are interested, you can continue with https://www.dupuytren-online.info/dupuyt..._therapies.html and then move on to the various therapies.

Should you have questions, this forum is a good place to ask them. Exercising is usually not recommended but you can just wait and watch how your fingers develop. If you feel that nodules and cords in your hand are aggressively growing (meaning e.g. a noticable change within a month) then you might consider radiotherapy. If your fingers contract, minimally invasive treatments like needle fasciotomy or collagenase injection might be the first line of defence. But most people with signs of Dupuytren's never need any treatment, so no need to panic!

Wolfgang