and am typing with one hand with no caps as it is hard to use the shift key with a numb hand.

much much bigger deal than i was expecting. very painful and i have about a 2 inch by 1/2 inch open wound on my palm plus a lot of smaller cuts - the kind i expected. am still numb from all the numbing drugs and cortisone he shot me up with at the end of the procedure. he wants me to do 4 weeks of physical therapy starting today. this was no walk in the park. i was in the o.r. for over an hour and actual procedure took 40 minutes of needles being inserted followed by painful bending back/hyperextending of fingers at end.

but the good news is my hand is straight!

btw - dr. benhaim is opposed to rt ( thinks it causes cancer) and will be doing his 1st xiaflex treatment next week. problem with xiaflex is it is hard to get insurance approval and costs 3,200 per injection plus th md's cost to do it - and i would have needed 3 injections.

Interesting discussion. I never felt pain with my surgery, but following the surgery my first thought was that I would try NA if I needed another procedure. It has now been 8 and 1/2 years since my surgery and there is no hint of Dupuytren's in my hand. If I need surgery on my other hand, it would be a tough decision to chose NA over the fasciectomy.

My NA was somewhere in-between. The multiple numbing injections hurt just about up to my limit by the time of the last one. Breaking the chords - painless. There were some "after-event" precautions and procedures including 3 mos. PT. But no pain a such. Some swelling and minor skin tearing but that all resolved in about 30 days or less. Had NA on Friday. Went to work on Monday.

today had therapy and got splint. my hand is flat. no pain but numbing drugs have not fully worn off. main wound on palm is really only about 1 1/2 inches long - not 2. i felt great today. as painul as it was, i would do it again if i had to. my hand is going to feel normal when it heals. that is worth it and this will heal faster than alt surgery.

felt both numbing injections and the others - which when i felt he would give more numbing injections which of course hurt. he said could not numb more to ensure i could provide feedback if he hit a nerve.

he has been doing this 4 years and does lots of them. i was 2nd of the day for him. he was trained by dr eaton in fl.

i guess people experience pain differently. i have a fairlyhigh pain tolerance but know that my feet are abnormally sensitive/tickliish and my teeth are too - i need about 2X what most people need of novacain at the dentist.

thanks for all the feedback.

Most of the pain was from the numbing injections, but there was pain during the actual work, too. The doc told me it varies from person to person, and I'm sure the location of the contracture, adhesion to surrounding tissue etc. are also factors.