Thanks for the story, Lynn. I appreciate the encouraging attitude.

The windsurfing is a good metaphor for dealing with this.

Matt

I'm not a doctor. But my understanding is that Ledderhose is more or less defined as the presence of nodules on the foot - perhaps preceded by a thickening of the affected tissue - and it may or may not be painful. I believe it's pressure on the lumps that causes the pain - while DC in the hands is not normally painful at all. So I doubt Ledderhose is what you have. Again - I'm not an expert, just a person with DC and Ledderhose (which in my case are not painful).

i need help moral and physical support. despite many visits to the best orthopedic surgeon in my area, dp was never mentioned. i have suffered the ongoing collapse of my left hand over the last five years. i was removed from (uk) incapacity benefit by tribunal because i could not name my disease. dp in hands is obvious. is this surgeon(mr gallager) a cretin. i have not had a job for 10 yearsn noone will take the risk(re disability dicrim act), i am also finding that websites about OT and safety, ergonomics etc, blocked from public net access points. the r4elated depression i suffer from is unbearable. grade six spanish guitar,realy good three ball juggling, lovelife, etc- need i say more. i am only thirty years old. how can i save 20000 dollars or so for proceedures in usa hand clinics as uk nhs is directly responsable for a chain of bad diagnoses offering what would have been the wrong ops in hands. i could rant on and on. I have suffered cysts on the central knuckels of both hands, total collapse of left little finger, the left anular is rapidly collapsing, left thumb is locked up. this leaves me with five working fingers total. i need surgery, OT and physiotherapy now, not some waiting list. my working life is draining away. can anybody help me. please please email me some support. i realy am fed up with the ritual abuse i get as a disabled person in NORWICH UK. please respond. it was the recent "blood of the vikings" tv series that to9ld me about dp(inheritable through nordic european ancestry). should our diagnoses be by tv programme and the internet or at an orthopedic clinc that should know the diseases that it is meant to be able to treat. painfull and mashed up and scared(and scarred) for life.

Just tell your mother to avoid surgery. She will get ten more lumps in its place within months.

Nancy,
Unfortunately much of what we have found in the way
of research is more about dupuytrens in hands. We have
read a little about Ledderhose and need to read more as
Richard has it in the left foot, though not to the degree
you describe. Much info you will see on Ledderhose states
that it recurrs with a vengeance to surgery or any type of
treatment. We don't know, as Richard has had no treatments
of any kind to feet. He is about to try the Talon Industry
topical verapamil on the nodules in his feet. His Dermo-
tologist has prescribed it for him. The only thing that
I have read regarding the surgery for Ledderhose, which
may or may not be applicable to recurrence is that when
surgery is performed and there is failure to remove the
plantar aproneurosis when a modular mass is present that
it invites recurrence. Have also read, but do not know,
that lidocaine/hydrocortisone applications have helped
some people.
Good luck,
Mary Beth & Richard