This is my first time on a forum and I hope I don't make too many "newbie" mistakes!
My right hand ring finger is bent about halfway to the palm and my thumb has a large cord that runs from the middle of my palm to the joint, which restricts the movement quite a bit.

I have surgery scheduled for 2 weeks from today. I'm wondering if anyone else has had the ring finger and thumb worked on at once and what I can expect the recovery to be like. I play stand-up bass in a couple of bands and type for my day job. Any ideas for how long it will be before I can use my hand to type or pluck the bass?

I had Needle Aponeurotomy/NA on my cords as I wanted to avoid surgery. My contracture had not reached the degree that you describe yours, but the procedure took about 20 minutes and my hand was flat. The recovery consisted of keeping my hand elevated day and night for 3 days. Then I removed the bandage and kept Bacitracin on it and kept it out of still water for 2 weeks (no swimming or tub baths, and darn, no hands in dishwater). That was it! Done! No physical therapy.

Dr. Denkler who did my NA does release of cords that have caused at least 90 degrees of contracture. Others who do NA are listed under the Treatment tab at the top of this page. He is a hand surgeon and did many surgeries for Dupuytren's before he found out about NA. If it is early enough that he can do NA or Xiaflex which he also now does, he prefers the early treatment options over surgery. He still does some surgeries that NA or Xiaflex are not viable options.

Even if you would not be able to get to Dr. Denkler, if you email him pictures of your hand, he will email you back, probably within one day, and tell you if NA would be a treatment option. He and the office staff are very nice.

I don't know what area you live in, but there may be doctors who do NA and/or Xiaflex near you. Others on this Forum will probably post their experiences with NA also.

I would really encourage you to consider NA. It sounds like you may not have been told about NA and Xiaflex. You can always have surgery if the NA isn't effective. It doesn't work well having NA after surgery. I am going to have NA again in the same hand since it is beginning to contract up into my little finger. My first NA was almost 2 1/2 years ago. I'll have it every 2 years if that will help me avoid surgery.

For sure, it is hard to deliberately get a procedure not covered by your insurance.

Jackie,

I agree with Mike S. ... even if you decide not to have the procedure done outside of Kaiser, you might want to consider at least a consultation with Dr. Denkler and take it from there.

In 2006 I had seen a hand surgeon and had scheduled surgery for a contracted pinkie finger. Two weeks before surgery I cancelled and opted to have NA procedure with Dr. Denkler instead. Since then, I've had a second NA on the same finger and also Radiation on the other hand and foot for multiple nodules. The radiation has stopped the progression of the disease in the radiated areas.

I have never regretted my decision to cancel surgery.

Jackie,

I had surgery almost 10 years ago on a little finger with 90 degrees contraction. My finger now is as good as it was before Dupuytren's and zero degrees contraction. On my other hand I have the start of Dupytren's similar to what you describe. I always thought that I would try NA on that hand if it comes to the point of needing a procedure. But, as each year passes with the very successful surgery that I had, I will now elect to have the surgery. I like the idea of removing all of the diseased tissue and a small amount of surrounding tissue. There was very little pain (just Tylenol) with the surgery. I was driving a couple of days later and used a night splint for three months.