I thought that the following info might be useful to some folks as I had the full fasciectomy last week.
I have had a Dupytrens contracture on my left hand for as long as I can remember, probably since my early 30s which was 20 years ago. It was pulling my ring finger in at the MCP joint and got to the point that I couldn't hand jam as I couldn't get my hand in the crack in the first place.
12 or 13 years ago I had the needle fasciotomy which was quick and easy with good results, but the contracture returned with a year or 2. As I had pretty much stopped climbing by then I just ignored it.
My wife is an upper limb orthopaedic anaesthetist, so she and her surgeon see hundreds of Dupytrens and kept a vague eye on it along with the occasional look at it from a friendly surgeon in social settings. Although it never bothered me in the slightest (cycling, photography, computer stuff), once it reached about 70-80° contracture they (wife / surgeon) decided it would be better to sort it before skin grafts were required.
I then saw the surgeon 'officially' through the NHS, got into the system and scheduled an autumn op last week. This involved turning up at the hospital at 7am, having a general anaesthetic and a block (could just have had a block, but I decided I had no wish to witness the carnage) and home by 1pm.
One long, zig-zag cut and 30 stitches later, my hand lays flat again and I have had zero pain from the op. I had a plaster splint for 5 days which was a bit tedious but now I just have some plasters and tubi-grip to protect it with a splint to wear at night. The stitches will dissolve in a couple of weeks at which point I need to massage it with moisturiser.
It'll be another month before I can ride outside, but I will be on the turbo once the stitches have gone and it's safe to get the wound wet. I'd imagine that it would be at least that long before climbing too, if not longer.
For those of you who have seen Pod's UKC article, my contracture was considerably worse than his, and the surgeons cut longer (albeit I only had one contracture).
Early days, but seems successful so far.
