My 80 year-old father has DC on both ring fingers, he's been diagnosed. As a 34 year old female, I have noticed a sensitive lump developing in my palm along my rt pinky finger tendon. I'm convinced it's DC, my dermatologist friend agreed. I have rock climbed heavily for 14 years now and I'd like to continue but I'm worried about the possible link between hard gripping and DC progression.
At roughly stage 0, what can I do to limit this progression? Massage? Stretching? More use or less?
I'm so young for this, I fear my hand (s) will be useless for later years...

Dear JW,

Google 'Dupuytren's Faqs Facts' to get the most comprehensive summary of information about Dupuytren's (prepared by Dr Eaton). The postings on this site are interesting too, although a lot of them tend to harp on and on on the same themes!

Andrew

I'm a 27 yr. old female... not the most likely candidate for this huh? I play guitar for many hours each week and I had surgery last year to release trigger finger and remove a sheath cyst. I have developed a lump in my palm now that's near the tendon that was operated on, the index finger. I went to have it checked out today and the hond surgeon really thinks it's Dupuytren's. My parents both have cyst-like lumps in the palms of their hands and my dad's fingers do draw up. Neither one has ever heard of this disease. My older brother (42) went to this same Dr. a month ago and this is what the Dr. believes he has. It wasn't until I mentioned this that the Dr. thought of it as a diagnosis. So, I don't know what to think of this.
As much as I am gripping the guitar pick for hours etc. and given how young I am, I'm really interested to know what in the world I can do to reduce the effects of this as well.

The progress of these conditions is completely unpredictable. When I first noticed the lump under my arch, and started reading about Ledderhose, I was depressed too. That was about 7 years ago and nothing has happened since - the lump is still there, hardly any larger. I continue to walk and run without significant discomfort. As to the future, who knows but I think that antifibrotic drugs are going to be working for us in a few years.

I hear you No Name,

JAnn:
It is a bit of a stretch that your initial MD would not know Dups when He sees. Also, if you had OS by any decent hand surgeon, the current standard proactive is to remove *all* the diseased tissue in your hand, certainly including *everything* in the palm. Are you saying this is Dups in a completely different aria of the palm and there was *nothing* there before? While true that younger females statistically have a more aggressive cases, two months after OS is a stretch.

Nevertheless, injectable Collegenase is held up in FDA trials, at least two years away. The only other option currently is NA, which some believe is not appropriate in aggressive cases because of it's higher rate of recurrence. However, that opinion usually comes from surgeons who currently are *not* doing NA for *any* cases.

I've always found Second and Third opinions worth the money. (You'll get plenty of *free* non-medical, though sometimes "opinionated", opinions here at least)