Dupuytren’s Disease

Dupuytren’s Disease is a condition that causes your fingers to be pulled in toward your palm. It happens when your fascia – the tissue that connects your skin and much of your insides, thickens. This thickening causes the inward force, which we call Dupuytren’s contracture.

While there’s no known cause of this condition, we do have scientific evidence we can point to that will give us an indicator of your risk of Dupuytren’s. First of all, if you have a family history, you could be genetically predisposed to this problem. Other factors include alcohol use, diabetes, seizure disorders, age and more.

What are the symptoms? The good news is that you won’t wake up one morning with your fingers bending. It’s a slow process. First, you’ll probably notice small bumps, or nodules, in the palm of your hand. They may be tender at first, but that will go away.

However, over time, they could thicken and contract, forming cords that pull your fingers toward your palm. In severe cases, this can interfere with your ability to hold certain objects and perform other daily tasks with your hand.

Again, this is a slow-progressing condition, and many times the symptoms are so mild treatment never becomes necessary. However, if you do need treatment, your doctor should go over both non-surgical and surgical options with you. For instance, you could benefit from a steroid injection to slow the progression. Another non-surgical option is splinting, or forcing your fingers into position, however this could cause injury.

Your surgical options include a fasciotomy, in which your doctor divides your thickened cord of tissue, or a subtotal palmar fasciectomy, where your doctor removes much of the cord itself.

Finally, there are new developments to treat this issue, such as the enzyme injection and needle aponeurotomy, however scientists are still unsure how effectives these remedies will be.