Dupuytren’s Disease

Dupuytren’s disease is a condition that affects the fascia where it thickens and tightens over time causing the fingers to be pulled inward, towards the palm, resulting in what is known as a “Dupuytren’s contracture.”

About Dupuytren’s Disease

If you have bumps in your palm, you might have Dupuytren’s disease. The bumps are from tissue thickening under the skin. Sometimes this thickening limits the ability to straighten your fingers. Most of the time it just causes bumps, and you can still straighten your fingers. Scientists have yet to determine when Dupuytren’s disease will cause an inability to straighten fingers or how to prevent or delay the process.

Risk Factors for Dupuytren’s Disease

Risk factors for Dupuytren’s disease may include:

• Family history: Dupuytren’s Disease is more common in people with British or Northern European heritage.

Treating Dupuytren’s Disease at UT Medicine

Our goal is to help increase your confidence and help you keep to your routine. Our team will assess your bumps and work with you on managing the condition.

If you can’t straighten your finger, there are some treatment options. Sometimes the problem can be addressed by anesthetizing the skin and poking the tight area repeatedly with a needle until it gives way, allowing the finger to straighten a bit more. With this needling procedure, there is no skin incision to heal, although sometimes the skin tears open a bit when the finger straightens. There is some swelling, bruising, and soreness that goes away over a few weeks.

If the disease does not respond to needling, we can perform outpatient surgery under local anesthesia in our office operating room.