Judy, I had a similar experience after my hand surgery. I felt I could watch the nodules growing. With radiotherapy I was able to slow down growth and in part even eliminate the smaller nodules (you might have a look at the "radiotherapy" thread on this forum). If your are located in the US radiation therapy seems to be difficult to find, if you are in the UK you could travel to Germany or the Netherlands.

Wolfgang

David, just noticed that you had addressed your question to me. Sorry for the delay!

It is not uncommon to make pictures of your hand and e-mail them to the respective expert together with a description (e.g. how old you are, how long you have those nodules, are they definitely Dupuytren nodules (there are other reasons for nodules as well), do your fingers already contract and if so how much, is there a family history, do the nodules hurt, how quickly are they growing). When taking the pictures make sure that size and height of the nodules are recognizable, smaller ones you might e.g. mark with a pen.

No doctor will do a real diagnosis via e-mail but if your nodules have been diagnosed already he might be able to tell you whether he thinks a closer inspection or a therapy make sense or not.

I can't guarantee that you always get a reasonable response but it is a fairly common procedure for people living far away.

Wolfgang

David, sometimes e.g. ganglion cysts can result in nodules but a remote diagnosis is really impossible. There are several web sites that describe other potential causes, e.g. if you go to our web site www.dupuytren-online.info, select "the disease : Dupuytren" and then scroll down until you hit "First exclude other causes!" you can find a little list, though I have no idea whether it is complete. But your doctor should know!

Wolfgang