Hi!

My name is Dan. What a wonderful and most helpful website I have come across!

My story... hopefully in short.

About 6 years ago, I was a window washer. I jammed my index finger into one of the window corners, and the next day had a bump on my left index finger's knuckle on the top part of the finger (sorry, do not recall the technical term). I did not have insurance at this time, and my current boss was giving me a hard time about workman's comp to cover it... blah blah. So 5 years pass, and this growth on my finger never went away. It restricted my movement and the pain later came. I play(ed) guitar and piano... that was at times a very painful experience. I received "treatment" last year for this through a surgeon, since my new job offered health insurance. To say the least, it was not a good experience dealing with this surgeon.

After the op, at the post op follow up a week later, I was told that the "biopsy shows that I have Dupuytren's disease". I was rushed out of there, no consolation, vague answers to my questions (I asked about therapy - he said no), just a piece of paper, and the fellow speaking with me knew nothing of dupuytrens, as he admitted. They wanted to have nothing to do with me. To me, hearing that was devastating, but I resolved to research this. After a year or so of researching, I have discovered (among many things) that biopsy does not necessarily show that one has dupuytrens, as it is not easily identifiable without obvious evidence. Plus, this was on the knuckle, on the outside of my finger. Not common, as I recall reading.

After my surgery, within months, I grew another node on the opposite hand, on my pinky, on the same middle knuckle. It is much more painful. Months after that, I now have a nodule on my thumb, inside, midway, and also on my index finger on the soft, inside part, just opposite of where I had the original operation.

I am beside myself. I dont want to go back. I dont trust them. I would rather travel to Mayo clinic, or some specialist than deal with these people who "wrote me off".

Part of me thinks that this may not be dupuytrens, but something else. I have no contraction at this point, as that would be absolute evidence. But could it be something else? Acute tendonitis? Something else?

Any input would be most appreciated!

Dan

Edited 01/28/13 23:48

callie:

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You must realize that you won't get a medical diagnosis here. But, what you are saying does not sound like Dupuytren's. Generally there is very little pain with Dupuytren's, albeit discomfort is not abnormal. You could have "knuckle pads" which are associated with Dupuytren's on the backs of your hand. They can be sensitive when bumped. Dupuytren's nodules closely resemble a callus.

Are you familiar with ganglion cysts?

Edited 01/29/13 00:35

Randy_H:

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Your experience doesn't make too much sense to me, as hand surgeons will not attempt surgery for Dups unless there is a contraction. And most surgeons would recognize Dups just by looking at it. Did you see a Certified Hand Surgeon (CHS)?
Did he think it was something else before he operated?

Under magnification a hand surgeon can identify Dups tissue. Typically they open up the hand and remove all such tissue they can identify. It is believed that physical trauma to the hand can trigger growth of Dups tissue. So considering what you've said you probably do have Dups. or related knuckle pads. Keep a sharp eye on your palms, looking for little lumps and bumps. Those nearly always develop it it's Dups.. It's rare to have it only in the fingers.

Cortisone injections are useful to reduce pain and soften the bumps in the palm. I've had that done and wouldn't hesitate to do it again. However, I've not heard of that being done on the fingers. Perhaps that might help if you can find someone to do it.
It is painful so I'd have them numb the finger first.

Edited 01/29/13 01:20

flojo:

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I suggest a second opinion with another Certified Hand Specialist. Look at the list of doctors and clinics on this site.

It sounds like it may be Dupuytren's in the nodule stage. If so, radiation threapy (RT) would definitely be worth considering.

Randy_H:

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Considering the fact hat a CHS observed your removed tissue and said it was Dups and that you have had frozen shoulder would lead me to believe that you have Dups. I have had FS as well.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11307078

Yep, Dups and Frozen Shoulder are statistically related. In fact it’s errant scar tissue that they need to break up in Frozen Shoulder. Its scar tissue gone nuts in you hand that makes up Dups tissue.

Don’t worry. It’s not like Invasion of the Body Snatchers or something. There are a lot worse diseases you could have instead. Personally I’ll keep the Dups rather than reach into some grab bag of possible ailments and trade it for whatever I might draw instead. We now can avoid most surgery with non-invasive procedures so it’s not nearly as bad as it was 50 years ago.

“The diseased tissue of Dupuytren's presents as nodules and cords, each of which has a distinctive appearance under the microscope…”

http://drdavidslutsky.com/procedures/dupuytren_disease.html