Life has had its challenges recently thanks to a hand that’s been sidelined by Dupuytren’s disease, which has caused a contracture in some of your fingers — or threatens to.
While Dupuytren’s contracture isn’t widely known, it affects a surprising number of people — at least 10 million Americans, mostly on the older side.
At New Braunfels Orthopaedic Surgery & Sports Medicine, our board-certified orthopedic surgeons are well versed in Dupuytren’s procedures, and we offer two solutions for releasing the increasing contracture in your hands and fingers — surgical and nonsurgical. Let’s take a look.
With Dupuyren’s contracture, the fascia in your hands thickens and tightens, which pulls on the connective tissues. Over time, the condition gradually gets worse and starts to pull on your fingers, causing them to curl inward toward your palm.
If the Dupuryren’s contracture in your hand has arrived at the point where you’ve developed a cord in your palm that you can see and touch, Xiaflex might be a great option. With this office-based treatment, we inject Xiaflex into your hand and the enzymes in the medication break down the collagen in the cord to release its grip on your hand. We then manipulate your hand to straighten out the affected fingers.
We may administer several injections if you have more than one contracture in your hand, and some patients might need a series of injections. Following treatment, you wear a splint and do hand exercises — your work and diligence will be rewarded as normal function returns to your fingers and hand.
When we perform a subtotal palmar fasciectomy, our goal is to release the contracture in your hand by removing the fascia responsible for the problem. The word “subtotal” means that we only remove the fascia affected by the disease, leaving the rest of this connective tissue intact.
In many cases, we perform a subtotal palmar fasciectomy on an outpatient basis, which means you can head home afterward to recover more comfortably. If the procedure is more complex or if you have a health issue that bears monitoring, it may require an overnight stay in the hospital.
To make sure that we release your Dupuyren’s contracture successfully, we make a zigzag incision in your palm to access the diseased tissues. This type of incision is designed to allow your hand to heal without leading to more contracture.
In some cases, we may place a skin graft over the incision. In other cases, we leave the incision open so it can heal from the inside out on its own. In either case, you need to take great care of the incision site at home, keeping it clean and protecting it well. We also provide you with a splint to keep your hand stable while it heals.
While everyone heals at their own pace, you can expect that you’ll be in recovery mode for several weeks, so you should plan accordingly when it comes to work and activities. You should also count on wearing a splint for up to three months afterward, which can help hold your hand and finger in the right position to keep the tissues stretched out while they heal.
Whether you choose the surgical or nonsurgical route, you won’t be on your own as you recover — our team is on call for all of your recovery needs. We’re here to help you regain the full use of your hand.
To learn which approach is best for your Dupuyren’s contracture, we invite you to contact our office in New Braunfels, Texas, by calling 830-341-1386 or requesting an appointment online.
