What is Dupuytren’s Disease?

Posted on May 15, 2023 by Dr. Herazy

What is Dupuytren’s disease, and can it self-heal?

Simply stated, Dupuytren’s disease is the beginning phase of Dupuytren’s contracture. These two slightly different names indicate two distinct stages of the same progressive hand problem.

Dupuytren’s disease is a progressive genetic hand problem in which the connective tissue layer of the palm produces excess collagen and fibrin. This extra collagen causes an area of the palm near the base of one or more fingers to thicken and become less flexible. Typically, Dupuytren’s disease first appears on the surface as a small nodule or lump in the palm. It is often mistaken for a small blister or callus. At this early stage, the area can also form small wrinkles, dimples or pits.

Dupuytren’s contracture is the later or end stage when Dupuytren’s disease becomes a larger, more disruptive and invasive problem. During this contracture stage, the growing mass of collagen and fibrin develops a cord of dense tissue. The cord extends up and attaches to the finger closest to it. All the while, the finger cord is also thickening and contracting. This causes the cord to pull the finger down toward the palm. It can take many months or years for this slow and gradual process to occur. The contraction process can be continuous, or it can completely stall for months or years at a time. It can even stop, start and stop again a few times before it picks up speed.

Dupuytren’s disease self-heals – spontaneous recovery

The medical profession says there is no cure for Dupuytren’s disease. But that is not exactly true. When they say there is no cure they mean, “there is no prescription drug that cures Dupuytren, in the way that penicillin cures an infection.”

The truth is, there is a cure for Dupuytren. An undetermined percentage of people self-cure their Dupuytren without help from anyone. It happens naturally, like mending a broken bone. This is the way the body is supposed to work. Life is full of miracles, and self-healing is one of them.

The body can, and does, spontaneously repair Dupuytren disease like it heals so many other small and large health problems. Unfortunately, this does not happen every time, or in every situation.

Self-healing of Dupuytren’s disease

Sometimes the healing process needs some help to work better. For example, every good doctor will tell a patient with a broken bone to drink extra milk, take vitamin D, wear a cast, and avoid stressing the limb. These simple strategies help the body heal a broken bone better. The same for taking extra iron for anemia, and extra rest and vitamin C for a cold. DCI applies the same logic for designing Dupuytren’s disease treatment plans.

Based on the simple observation that some people self-heal their Dupuytren problem early, the Dupuytren’s Contracture Institute developed a natural treatment strategy to help people do a better job healing their Dupuytren disease.

As a result, people who closely follow the DCI treatment strategy early can do rather well. We hear from many people who use our large treatment plan. Of these, 8-10 people report moderate to marked reduction of their Dupuytren, for every one report of failure. We find that the larger the treatment plan, and the better a person follows DCI suggestions, the better the Dupuytren self-heals. For information about DCI treatment plans.

>> Testimonials from Dupuytren Contracture Institute

Keeping Dupuytren’s disease self-healing a secret

However, even though Dupuytren self-healing happens, medical writers never actually use the term “self-heal,” “self-correct;” or any term close to it. On top of that, the usual term medical writers use instead for self-healing of Dupuytren disease is to say it “goes away.”

For example, the NIH National Library of Medicine (MedlinePlus.gov) admits “Dupuytren’s nodules…occasionally even go away without treatment…” Exactly what does “go away” mean? They do not say. The world-famous Cleveland Clinic states, “…some people’s nodules go away on their own.” They never explain anything about how or why it would go away. WebMD.com tells readers that palm nodules, “…may go away on their own in a small number of patients…” The Dupuytren Research Group (Dupuytrens.org) says, “Some Dupuytren’s nodules go away without any treatment.”

Yes, the nodules go away on their own because the body can heal Dupuytren’s disease!

How often does Dupuytren’s disease go away on its own?

Even so, in these simple one-line statements about Dupuytren’s disease self-healing, something is missing. The reader has no idea how often the body is able to self-correct or naturally eliminate Dupuytren’s disease. In these four quotes – and all the others on the internet – the reader is not told if self-healing is fairly common or is it rare. Does Dupuytren spontaneous recovery happen once in a hundred cases, or once in a million?

It is almost as though medical writers do not want to admit the body can self-heal Dupuytren’s disease. Like they want to say as little as possible about Dupuytren disease self-healing. As a result, people believe they have only two treatment choices for their hand nodule: drugs and surgery.

Self-healing far more common than people told

For the most part, internet readers are not told how common or uncommon it is for the Dupuytren nodule to spontaneously self-heal.

However, in a 2005, a Journal of Hand Surgery (JHS) report and follow-up study appeared discussing the progression of Dupuytren nodules over a span of 6-15 years. It covered all the usual data of history, genetic tendency, physical findings and surgeries of 59 people in the middle and later stages of Dupuytren disease. This report is unique and important because it clearly states how many times Dupuytren disease self-repair happened within this group of 59 people. This is the only time DCI has found an author who placed a number on the frequency of Dupuytren’s self-healing.

Near the bottom of the report, the author states that 12% of the 59 people (seven people) had spontaneous remission or self-0helaing of Dupuytren palm lumps. Even though these 59 people had Dupuytren’s disease that was bad enough that they saw a specialist about their hands, for 12% of them, the Dupuytren’s nodule resolved by self-repair or spontaneous healing.

Is 12% a small or large number?

Perhaps the 12% self-correction is not an impressive number to some readers. Some might even think 12% is a small number of people. Actually, that 12% number is huge. With this number we gain important insight into the course and behavior of Dupuytren disease.

This number represents the Dupuytren disease cases that were bad enough to be in a doctor’s office for evaluation and treatment, yet somehow self-healed. If cases of DD that are bad enough to be seen by a doctor can clear up without help, what about minor and early cases of DD? When DD is not much more than a curious little bump, can it also clear up by self-healing? Of course! And probably at a much higher percentage than just 12%. When the palm lumps are smaller, softer and less well developed, would be a much better time and opportunity for this kind of self-repair to occur.

The average percentage of Dupuytren disease that self-heals is not knowable. There is no good way to collect this kind of information. No one goes to a hand specialist to report a small palm lump that is gone. Who would spend the time and money to see a doctor to report a tiny problem that healed itself and is not there? For this reason, the number of early Dupuytren’s disease hands that self-correct can only be estimated. Perhaps, 25-50%? Anyone’s guess.

Regardless, it is important to know that Dupuytren disease self-cures happen. Everyone with a Dupuytren’s nodule has some potential to heal it, especially in the early stages, and probably less so in the later stages.

>> How to start Dupuytren treatment with Alternative Medicine

Reasonable assumptions

We have seen that 12% of 59 people self-healed their Dupuytren’s disease during the middle and later stages. This happened without the benefit of any nutritional, physical therapy, stretching or enzyme treatment. It happened spontaneously. It seems reasonable to assume that if these same 59 people received adequate nutritional, physical therapy, stretching and enzyme treatment assistance during the middle and later stages of Dupuytren’s disease, the percentage of people who self-healed would have been larger.

Further, it seems reasonable that if 12% self-healed in the middle and later stages of DD, an even larger percent self-healed in the early stage. This would likely happen because in the early stage of Dupuytren disease the connective tissue mass in the palm is softer, smaller and less infiltrated with excess collagen and fibrin. As an example, it is reasonable to assume that a greater percentage of people self-heal their minor cold or sniffles while the problem is smaller, than when it gets worse and becomes pneumonia.

Lastly, DCI treatment verifies that people self-heal Dupuytren disease. When people use the large DCI treatment plan, good things can happen. DCI receives 8-10 reports of moderate to marked improvement, even elimination, of the palm lump, for every one report of failure.

>> How to start Dupuytren treatment with Alternative Medicine

Do you have any idea what it might be?

Posted on August 18, 2012August 21, 2012 by

Hello,

I am 28yrs old, male and have a single lump in the palm of my left hand. I have no signs of finger movement limitation. The lump is not painful unless it is bumped or pressure applied. It changes size day to day. Do you have any idea what it might be or the best step to take in finding treatment?

Thanks

Greetings,

I suggest you call an orthopedic specialist for an appointment to have your hand evaluated. There is no way from your limited description I could offer a guess. It might be Dupuytren’s contracture, just as easily as it is something else. TRH

Is this lump in my palm anything to worry about?

Posted on December 27, 2011 by

Lump on palm of hand should be investigated

As a general rule, anytime you discover something new happening to your body you should be concerned enough to quickly determine if the new situation has important short- and long-term consequences. In the case of a bump, nodule or lump on the palm of the hand that appears without reason, it could be important and should not be dismissed.

Of course, the first explanation for a palm lump or nodule is that it could be a simple callus. If a callus makes sense based on new or greater manual work you have been doing recently, especially without the protection of gloves, then that is probably all the concern that is necessary.

However, if you have not been using your hands more than usual lately, then you should do a quick mental inventory of any other recent symptoms you have noted about your hand:

Can’t extend or straighten one or more fingers
Can’t open hand completely
Can’t lay palm flat down on a table top
Fingers won’t open up after being used
Fingers won’t straighten
Fingers are restricted in full movement
Fingers curling in toward palm
Pinky finger or ring finger won’t extend fully
Lump, bump or nodule on the palm of the hand
Can’t open hands without pain
Stinging or burning pain in hand
Feels like a swollen tendon in the palm of hand
Feels like hand constricting and won’t open easily

If you note one or more symptoms that reduce your ability to use your hand and fingers, then you could have a fairly common condition known as Dupuytren contracture.

Lump in palm of hand common Dupuytren contracture finding

Dupuytren contracture is a problem of the soft tissue characterized by thickening and shortening of fibrous bands located in the deep tissue of the palm of the hand (palmar fascia), caused by an excess amount of a tissue protein called collagen. As this progresses a cord of tissue will develop below the surface or a lump in the palm on the surface, resulting in reduced mobility and contracture of the hand and finger. This involvement can affect one or both hands, and a variable number of fingers. Dupuytren contracture presents in a wide variation, from a mild and slowly progressing contracture of a single finger, to severe and rapidly progressive involvement of several fingers of both hands, or many variations in between.

Alternative medicine treatment when combined into an aggressive assembly of natural therapies (vitamin E, PABA, acetyl-L-carnitine, massage, stretching, copper peptides, systemic enzymes, etc.) are often effective in reducing or eliminating the excess collagen cord or nodule formation and the subsequent finger contracture that so often prevents the 4^th and 5^th finger from being able to extend or open fully and keeps the involved fingers curled in toward the palm. For information about using natural treatment methods to treat Dupuytren’s contracture, and to possibly avoid the need for Dupuytren release surgery, click natural Dupuytren Treatment Plan.

One or more dimpled and thickened bumps on the palm are most often caused by Dupuytren’s contracture. This is especially true for any unusual small nodule or lump on the hand that appears on the palm at the base of the 4^th (ring) or 5^th (pinky) fingers, especially if the involved finger or fingers won’t completely straighten out. Although it is always advisable to get a medical diagnosis of this kind of health problem, it is possible to develop a strong suspicion the problem is Dupuytren disease if several indicators and factors are present in your history:

Ancestors who came from England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales, or a Scandinavian country
One or more family members also have Dupuytren contracture
Palm lump located immediately at the base of the ring and/or pinky finger
Age 45 plus
Male
History of manual labor doing heavy or repetitive work, often with hands unprotected
History of tobacco smoking
Diabetes
Alcohol abuse or liver disease
Epilepsy

Dupuytren contracture will often return or recur within a few years after surgery that releases the finger contracture by removing the cords or lumps on the palm. In fact, some forms of Dupuytren surgery have am 80% recurrence rate 3-5 years after the first operation, and even faster recurrence for a 2^nd or 3^rd surgery. Hand surgery should not be seen as a solution or cure for Dupuytren’s contracture since recurrence is such a common problem not only for hand surgeons, but also the patients they serve.

Many surgeons voice the opinion that in many cases Dupuytren hand surgery seems to accelerate and worsen the development of cords and lumps on the palm. For this reason it is suggested that a person who has Dupuytren cords and lumps should first attempt a therapeutic trial of aggressive Alternative Medicine to determine if the body is capable of reversing or even eliminating the tissue changes that makes the fingers curl in toward the palm and prevents the hand from opening completely. If after two or three months of natural treatment no change is seen, Dupuytren surgery can always be done at a later time.

Natural alternative therapies such as suggested by the Dupuytren Contracture Institute do not receive evidence-based research because of their limited profit potential and easy access by laypeople, and so have little support from the medical profession. Even so, with a little independent research on this website it should be obvious that these natural healing ideas make sense and do not interfere with subsequent medical treatment.