I just returned from having Dr. Eaton perform NA on both hands. He did my right hand last Thursday and my left hand on Friday. I am very pleased with the results of the procedure. For the first time in many years my fingers are straight and I can place my entire palm flat on a table. For those of you contemplating having NA, I had very little pain associated with the procedure. It only took 15-30 minutes per hand for the actual procedure and Dr. Eaton spend spent time before the first procedure explaining everything to me and my wife. After the procedure, I keep my nand up with a small ice pack on it that day. The next day it was fine with no swelling. We went to the boat show the day after my second procedure and I felt fine and my hands were functioning as normal.

Dr. Eaton was extremely professional and informative about Dupuytren's disease. I have read much about the disease in the past; however, Dr. Eaton shared a lot of new insight into the disease with me. There are apparently many things our medical community does not understand about the disease, why it occurs, why it can re-occur, why it does not re-occur for some and for others it does, etc. Some people have one session with NA and that fixes the problem for a significant time, in not permanently. Other people have to have repeated NA treatment. With people choosing surgery as a treatment, Dupuytren's disease can also return, sometimes very quickly.

From reading this forum, I have seen alot of sentiment for NA being more commonly available in the United States. I asked Dr. Eaton if he was available to teach other hand surgeons the procedure. His reply was he really could not because of liability issues. This means any Hand surgeon wanting to practice the technique must travel to Paris like he did to learn the procedure. He is planning on making a presentation to the hand surgeons at their convention in 2006. It is apparently too late for such a presentation to be made this year. I think all of us that are happy with Needle Aponeurotomy need to write letters, emails, etc. to the appropriate person(s) with the AMA concerning this procedure and give our encouragment about surgeons being given training on the wonderful procedure. Does anyone have any contact information concerning who our letters, emails, etc. should be addressed to?

I want to personally thank all of the people who have contributed to this forum. I have been monitoring it for the past 3-4 months. I found the forum when I started doing reseach on Dupuytren's Disease on the Internet. I had seen a hand surgeon in Houston in a couple of years ago and was advised surgery was the only solution to treat it. I had delayed the surgery since my problems were not so great that I had to have it done immediately. Late last year I decided to have one hand operated on in 2005. After making that decision, I was doing reseach on the disease when I came across this forum and other material on the Internet. After all of my research, I decided in January to make my appointment to see Dr. Eaton. Had I not been able to read all of your posted comments, both positive and negative, I would not have had the procedure. I am very happy that I did see all of your comments and that I had the procedure last week.