Most people don't have much pain. Depends on your activities. I was driving after a couple of days. Do your physical therapy (it is very important, even if you do it yourself). Keep hand moist (24/7) with hand lotion after surgery and ask a lot of questions.

Come on guys, be serious !
Pain exists generally only one or two days, and can be taken care of by some over-the-counter meds.
But, going back to activities ??? What kind of activities ???
First of all, all cases are different.
My surgeon wrote me a six week sick leave ! (not that it mattered, because I was retired at the moment).
I had a rather extensive surgery, open palm method, skin graft and all that. 3 hours in surgery. Mind you, this surgeon is considered a top guy over here.
I had a nurse coming in daily for 3 weeks, to take care of the wound.
Had 60 sessions of hand therapy, over a period of 3 months.

Now, Ran, don't let all of this scare you. Like I said, mine wasn't exactly the simplest of surgeries.
The only one who 'might' give you an idea is your surgeon.

Btw, I hope you did read on NA in this forum ?
I had that surgery on my right hand about 4 years ago, and it's about time I do something about my left hand now. Most probably, I will take a chance with NA.

Best of luck to you.

Could the reference for the statement "Most people don't feel pain after surgery" please be posted.

We all know the experience of pain varies widely from person to person. And, the amount of diseased tissue that needs to be removed during open surgery and the finger joints involved all make for different experience in recovery. There are some who don't describe their experience as particularly painful. However, having interviewed four experienced PTs who have personally dealt with hundreds of patients in recovery, the *majorioty* of their patients certainly feel it's no picnic. "Recovery from Dups surgery is long and painful for a lot of people" said my first PT. The odds are not on you side if you expect of avoid pain with surgery.

If the *results* from surgery were clearly superior to NA it would be worth it. From the girth of personal testimonies found on this site, they are obviously are not.

Post surgical pain? Not much, but.....

I had full palm open wound surgery correcting 3 fingers. Very inconvenient for 6-8 weeks, but.........

About 2 weeks after surgery, I went to see the surgeon for a "follow-up". This was before PT began. Anyway, my hand was a little frozen up, so she flexed it as much as possible, and WOW was I in agony!! My surgeon did what she had to do it's part of the whole deal) so I don't blame her, but boy it really hurt.

If you only have pink dups, maybe it won't be so bad. But the multi-finger version was painful for me.