I had the Xiaflex injections 12 days ago, with the manipulation the following day. Dr Verheyden in Bend Oregon who has done about 200 of these. I had a 90 degree contracted pinkie with heavy involvement in the PIP - so kind of worst case scenario as the doc said. The injections for me were excrutiatingly painful, but he used a local the next day for the manipulations so I didn't feel much with that. He said the degree of my pain was highly unusual....go figure.

12 Days later - most of the swelling and bruising is gone, still have a large hematoma and the gash in the bottom of the finger where the skin ripped is healing nicely - but still a week or so from being done. How's the fingah you ask?

Well - I am playing the violin and piano again and using my pinkie for the first time in years. It's not working 100% yet - but I'm confident that after everything calms down over the next couple of weeks and with hand therapy it will really be good. I actually booked a gig for early November on jazz violin....that's optimism. I'm actually playing the instruments for the therapy - it really loosens things up.

My finger is probably at about 15 degrees - so not perfectly straight - but the doc said I would be lucky to get 45...with a wink....hoping for more. So we got more. Wearing a custom splint at night to keep it fairly straight, going to PT twice a week. Doc said I'm the only person he has prescribed PT for - my hand was pretty messed up after the procedure.

I have a nodule and the beginnings of cords on the index finger on the same hand, with no contraction yet. What to do? Not sure I can stand another Xiaflex (really they should just knock me out) - and NA probably won't work if you don't have a cord and a contraction. So I'm thinking radiation to slow things down. I do like German wines....

It was loss of feeling on parts of the tip and side of the finger - and yes it was permanent. I also had some nerve involvement with the Xiaflex injections - but it seems to be subsiding a bit. The inside top of the finger is extremely sensitive so when I touch it it feels like I'm getting zapped. I'm hoping that goes away - but doesn't have major consequences.

callie:

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You spoke of " nerve damage after surgery". What was the nature of the nerve damage? Did you lose feeling in the finger, or what? Was the nerve damage permanent?

If a hand doc does not recognize your condition as Dupuytrens - it may well not be Dupuytrens. The baby nodule thing sounds kind of unusual. I would suggest not self-diagnosing - find two or more physicians who will agree on a diagnosis. Then find someone else to treat it (probably).....

Brian

panny13:

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I haven't had xiaflex injection. i've been reading this site daily for a few weeks. I have large and small nodules and what looks like a "chord" on my left hand and 1 nodule on my right hand. October, 2011 I had Carpal Tunnel release surgery on my left had. It was awful. Soon after I noticed the nodules on both hands. The surgeon had no idea what it was from. I also have Crohn's disease so I wondered if these lumps were yet another autoimmune inflammatory side effect of that disease. I asked many doctors if they knew what this condition is. They were all clueless and had never seen it before. Particularly disturbing was that the hand surgeon did not know what it was. After reading everyone's comments and doing extensive research, It is clear I have DD. I do not want to have the NA or surgery, but i've had great difficulty finding a doc who will administer RT in the Northeast. Found a few on the west coast. One is Dr. Chang in Palo Alto. First I need to see a hand doctor here (I live in NJ right outside of NYC). I am getting really freaked out because the nodules are growing and babies are growing near them. I may already be past first stage in which case docs don't want to administer RT. What to do? I must say this forum is the only place i have found constructive advice and information. panny