Dupuytren contracture is a genetic disorder that makes the tissue under the skin of your palms and fingers thicken and tighten. There’s no cure, but symptoms take months or years to advance. There are lots of treatment options, including nonsurgical ways to relieve your symptoms.
Dupuytren contracture (sometimes also called Dupuytren disease) is a genetic disorder that makes the tissue under the skin of your palms and fingers thicken and tighten. Small bumps (nodules) grow on your hand’s fascia — the rubber-band like tissue under your skin that supports your hand and fingers. Eventually, these growths can form thick cords under your skin and bend your fingers so much that you can’t straighten them.
Dupuytren contracture can affect anyone. Some people are more likely to develop it, including:
Dupuytren contracture is rare. Around 5% of people experience it. People of European descent are much more likely to develop Dupuytren contracture than people from other ethnic backgrounds.
Dupuytren contracture might never affect your body in a way you notice. If you have mild symptoms, you may never even know you have it. Even if you do have symptoms, it usually takes a long time (months or years) for them to progress (get worse). In later stages, it might be hard — or impossible — to straighten your affected fingers.
Dupuytren contracture can affect any of your fingers — including your thumb. It’s most common in people’s fingers in the following order:
Dupuytren contracture can only affect your hands. It can’t develop in other parts of your body. Even though it’s related to other connective tissue disorders that can develop in other places in your body, you’ll never develop Dupuytren contracture anywhere other than your hands.
Some people with Dupuytren contracture are more likely to experience similar conditions like Ledderhose disease and Peyronie’s disease.
