Live Life Team
During this condition, one can see the affect on hands and fingers of the patient. The fingers tend to bend into the palms. The palm tissues get hardened up causing such a bend. The condition is named after the surgeon who found it and was named dupuytren’s contracture. The condition has been seen fairly commonly occurring around and also seen to be affecting more men than women. The statistics show that it happens to people in the higher age bracket and to men above 40 years of age. The condition starts with some mild symptoms. It also does not induce any pain to the patient. The condition can grow on, but does not require any treatment since it’s a progressive condition of the body and can not be cured fully.
Symptoms
As with the start of the condition, one can observe small lumps which does not cause any sort of pain and also little dimples in the palms. One may not notice them in the beginning and as with time those keep growing in, the problem is felt. These lumps are normally caused by thickening of the tissues in the palm. With time, the patient may find it difficult to extend the fingers of the palm and progressively the fingers get completely bent in towards the palm. With these symptoms it becomes quite difficult for the person to go through their normal daily chores or anything remotely complex. The statistics show that in most cases, it’s the ring finger which gets affected initially and then the other fingers too follow. Also it’s normally seen to affect both the hands at the same time and seldom does it affect only a single hand. The symptoms come without any pain so is tough to gauge but should be consulted with a doctor, as soon as the symptoms occur.
Causes
The causes are not yet clearly known. The condition has been found to be hereditary and in most of the cases, 60-70% of the victims would have this condition back in their family chain also. The age associated with this condition is often 40 and above. There could be few other illnesses which could trigger this condition like epilepsy, alcohol dependence, liver or any diabetes related issues. The symptoms are quite mild in their nature though not inducing any pain.
Diagnosis
The doctor can diagnose the condition by checking the skin of the patient and also by the amount of deformity in the fingers. They may also ask some specific questions related to the condition or any other observations the patient saw during the due course.
Treatment
There may be no treatment necessary in most of the cases that show mild symptoms. There are few treatments available in case the functionality of the hand starts to get hampered and those would include needle fasciotomy, open fasciotomy, dermatofasciectomy. In course of needle fasciotomy, needle procedure is used to push through the skin over the contracture and then they are removed giving the patient 50% chance of recovering from the condition. In the open fasciotomy, the skin is removed and then tissues in the palm responsible for the connectivity are operated upon, but this is done only in severe cases.
