I thought I would add my experience from the UK after spending several hours pouring over contributions to this fascinating forum. I find it a great pity that some excellent contributions from people with varied experiences are masked by many contributors with vested interests and even worse by pranksters with nothing better to do.
I am approaching 50 and first noticed the symptoms of Dupuytrens some 10 years ago, but was not moved to visit my Doctor until 5 years ago, when I had significant symtoms in both hands which were beginning to curl across the palms and from the two outer fingers. I was diagnosed swiftly but advised not have the operation too soon as it was likely that the problems would recur over time, and I would have to repeat the procedure every 5-10 years. And I think everyone agrees that the fewer operations the better.
I play in goal at soccer (I believe this is a girl's game in the USA) and was delighted one day when the ball bent my left hand so hard there was a ripping sensation. After the pain had eased my fingers straightened, and I thought I had found a 'cure'. I was soon disillusioned as the nodules began to grow far more agressively, and my fingers approached the palm of my hand. I therefore underwent surgery on my left hand. The surgery was successful, in producing a completely flat palm, and my fingers have fully straightened. My recovery was set back about 6 weeks due to an infection which meant I was unable to make a fist due to the amount of swelling in my hand. I wore a splint at night and had Physio sessions twice a week for 3 months, before my hand reached 80% of its full strength. This was a longer recovery period than I had expected, but much better than reported by many on this forum. I therefore waited for 2 years before repeating the operation on my right hand in which the symptoms were less severe. I underwent the same operation 3 weeks ago on my right hand. I had the stitches removed a week ago and all the scabbing has fallen off with no apparent infection. My palm is almost flat and my fingers are once again beautifully straight. This time my physio says I can do all the exercises at home, my hand is already close to full strength and I started playing racquet sports again today without a problem. During my first convalescence, I came across at least 6 people who had undergone the same traditional surgery, all of whom were satisfied with the results, and one of whom had his first hand operated 20 years ago, and it is still perfect now. This I hope will demonstrate to readers, that when done well, surgery can produce excellent results and need not be too disruptive. (I would like to add that my surgeon warned me of a 1% risk of losing my little finger after the operation). If this is worst medical problem I have to face in the next 25 years I will be a happy old man. My advice... make your choice, and do everything in your power to be positive and make it work for you.
PS having read your forum on glucosamine, I have thrown out my tablets, having remembered that the period when my dupuytrens were most agressively growing was at the same time I was taking regular glucosamine to help with a dodgy knee.

Andrew,
Thank you for the information. I have had an excellent result also. My hand is totally normal in function and appearance now, two years later. I did the therapy myself, except for the making of the splint. There are thousands of surgeries that take place every year for Dupuytren's and there are only a very few (same people over and over) that are on this forum complaining about the procedure. If it were as bad as they are trying to get everyone to believe, there would be hundreds complaining. Naturally, there are some who have a difficult procedure, but they are the exception not the norm.

Sherwood, if possible please consider NA. You'll be back to playing golf in no time. Granted there are successful surgeries, but there are also many horror stories told by reputable people with no ax to grind.

Sean has posted with many aliases (Gary, Mike, etc), all using the same language and extolling the virtues of surgery (and frequently insulting those that have had bad surgical experiences), while in his earlier Gary postings attempting to disparage NA (for reasons I do not know).

You can find much useful information on this website, compare the enthusiam of those who've had NA and those that have had their hands opened up and then had the accompanying months of therapy.

Fortunately, if anybody were to take the time to compare the two procedures, and if NA is applicable in your case, it's a very easy choice. NA is infinitely superior.

Perhaps because of my own experience, I feel it is foolish to go the old fashioned surgical route when there is at least a high probablity that NA will probably let you play golf the next day.

See my pics at
http://www.angelfire.com/rings/dupuytrens/

Frances/Anon,

Beware, Blatant Advertising, however, keep it up, we want to move forward with Doctors and patients. This site is primarily the road (blatamt advertising)to where we are now with the N/A movement.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!