Hi Dr. Herazy. Can a person get dupuytrens in the feet? I’ve already had surgery on both hands, but I also have 5 or 6 nodules in both feet. Any information would be appreciated.
Thank You.
Greetings,
Although you cannot actually develop Dupuytrens in the feet, I know what you mean. The answer to your question is that there is indeed a condition of the soles of the feet that resembles Dupuytren’s contracture. In this foot problem excessive an fibrous tissue reaction occurs with nodule formation. It resembles the contracted and fibrous tissue of Dupuytren’s contracture, with painful nodules, lumps and contracture formation on the bottom of the feet. In this sense, Dupuytrens in the feet is called Ledderhose disease.
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I have had people who have treated their Ledderhose disease using the DCI treatment protocol and they have reported success. You might consider this as an option before having foot surgery. TRH
Hello. I am a 54 year old male (relatively healthy). For the last 20 years, I have had Dupuytren’s Contracture on both hands. At first I didn’t have a clue what Dupuytren’s Contracture was…so I went to the hospital to seek medical advice.
The attending physician pointed out that it was ‘blablabla’ and when I asked what caused it, he said “We don’t know” and I was sent on my way.
Then a couple of years ago I started getting these ‘nodules’ on my feet. At first it was more of an annoyance than anything else.
Now these things are starting to take their toll.
I am a Chef and I am required to be on my feet 8 hours a day and have dexterity with my hands.
I wake up in the morning these days and I have to walk on the sides of my feet to get to the kitchen.
I also get severe cramps in my hands sometimes that cause me to stop whatever I am doing. These last up to two minutes or so. I also seem to be developing a curvature of my two ring fingers.
After some intense research, I discovered the lumps on my feet were a result of Ledderhose Disease.
I took these findings to the doctor, but he seems disinterested. He hasn’t even looked at the affliction!
He told me that a Dermatologist would be the one I would need to talk to. I think we are talking a Neurologist (or am I wrong?)
Anyway, he sent me for X-Rays on my hands and I am waiting to hear back from him.
Will X-Rays show Dupuytrens Contracture?
How can I handle this situation better?
Thanks in advance
Al Wither
Greetings Alan,
Your story of how you were treated by the medical profession for your Dupuytren’s contracture and Ledderhose disease is fairly typical. I think the lack of interest and enthusiasm to do anything about these hand problems stems from the lack of understanding how they start, great variability in how they progress in different patients, long periods in which not much happens (these are boring problems medically speaking), and the fact that these are not flashy or glamourous life-and-death problems like brain tumors and exotic tropical diseases, and for one other greatly significant and important reason.
This last significant reason is this: Doctors always feel a great amount of negativity, frustration and disappointment when treating Dupuytren’s contracture, as well as the similar problems of Ledderhose disease (feet) and Peyronie’s disease (penis), because no matter what is done these problems always come back worse than what was going on before the failed treatment. For example, Xiaflex (collagenase) injections are proving to be far less effective and a whole lot more problematical to administer well than what was first expected. In addition, the rate of Dupuytren’s contracture recurrence after a Xiaflex injection series is worse than after traditional surgery. Everyone thought Xiaflex was going to be a miracle cure for DC, LD and PD, but not so. More and more Xiaflex side effect horror stories are coming out, and these cause humanitarian problems, legal headaches and malpractice fears for the MDs who are involved. No wonder MDs are not excited to see another case of Dupuytren’s contracture come into their offices. For the most part, a Dupuytren’s contracture patient is a lose-lose situation for the MD; the MD knows that the patient has a good chance of being unhappy with him no matter what he does, and he know that he will also be unhappy and have more work treating a case of Dupuytren’s contracture than a simple problem of high blood pressure or hemorrhoids. This is why I think the average MD treats the average DC patient like bad news.
X-rays are typically not needed to diagnose or treat Dupuytren’s contracture per se. Your MD is probably suspecting arthritis or some other complicating issue that might exist in addition to or as a result of your Dupuytren’s contracture; your MD is likely digging into something a bit deeper than your DC and wants x-rays to help him do that. You should ask him why he wants the films; he should readily tell you.
I suggest you should consider natural treatment of your Dupuytren’s contracture to see if there is not something relatively simple you can do to help your body heal your DC. It can be done, it has been done, it is being done all the time. The Alt Med treatment approach does not cause a recurrence of Dupuytren’s contracture once the problem has been eliminated naturally. Our natural approach does not help everyone, but it helps enough people that it should be tried to see if might help you avoid more extreme measures like surgery and Xiaflex injections. Just look around the DCI website a bit to learn how it is done. It makes a lot of sense once you understand the basic idea. Let me know if I can help you in some other way. TRH
I have Dupuytren’s contracture, and local doctors are no help. Please share your alt meds.
Greetings Arthur,
Dupuytren’s contracture is a difficult problem to treat. Your local doctors are not excited to get involved in treating DC because of the often disappointing results that occur after using the usual medical approach. This even includes the new drug, Xiaflex, which is supposed to digest the fibrous cord. Complications and bad results often occur after Xiaflex injection, making the hand problem even worse than before treatment.
The body sometimes reverses and heals its own Dupuytren’s contracture, showing that a person can sometimes eliminate their own problem. DCI attempts to use a wide variety of natural therapies to assist that natural healing process. When used as we instruct, 8-10 people report moderate to marked success improving their DC for every one report of failure. All you have to do is look around the DCI website to learn how this is done. A good place is to start is by learning about the different Dupuytren treatment plans. Good luck, Arthur. TRH