KC
Poster Extraordinaire
Well I can't play guitar quite yet, though I did play slide for an hour last night, so here's a review of two treatments for Dupuytren's syndrome. If you don't know what this is, well, good for you. Nothing to see here.
Little finger, left hand, had a needle aponeurotonomy (sp?) about five years ago, worked like a charm for a few years but then it came back. Had a treatment with Xiaflex last week, still recovering. They seem pretty comparable in terms of effectiveness, from the reading I've done -- no more recurrence with one or the other. And in terms of impact, they also seem pretty comparable. I'll be playing again in a week or so, I expect, which is about how long it took with the needle.
So kind of a toss-up so far. The difference is availability, coverage and cost. The needle thing is pretty well-established in Europe, less so here; you may have a hard time finding an appointment and your insurance may not cover it. The cost difference is pretty substantial. The needle thing I had done a few years ago cost right around a thousand dollars, everything included, one visit to the doc. Xiaflex is $5000 for the shot and 3 office visits. My insurance covered it so yay but if you have to go out-of-pocket it's a pretty big difference.
Both of these seemed preferable to the full-scale surgery, which is pretty drastic, long recovery time and danger that you will lose some function. If everything goes as I expect it to, not a huge difference between the two. Just thought I would share my experiences but remember, this is medical advice from a musician. Completely untrustworthy!
Little finger, left hand, had a needle aponeurotonomy (sp?) about five years ago, worked like a charm for a few years but then it came back. Had a treatment with Xiaflex last week, still recovering. They seem pretty comparable in terms of effectiveness, from the reading I've done -- no more recurrence with one or the other. And in terms of impact, they also seem pretty comparable. I'll be playing again in a week or so, I expect, which is about how long it took with the needle.
So kind of a toss-up so far. The difference is availability, coverage and cost. The needle thing is pretty well-established in Europe, less so here; you may have a hard time finding an appointment and your insurance may not cover it. The cost difference is pretty substantial. The needle thing I had done a few years ago cost right around a thousand dollars, everything included, one visit to the doc. Xiaflex is $5000 for the shot and 3 office visits. My insurance covered it so yay but if you have to go out-of-pocket it's a pretty big difference.
Both of these seemed preferable to the full-scale surgery, which is pretty drastic, long recovery time and danger that you will lose some function. If everything goes as I expect it to, not a huge difference between the two. Just thought I would share my experiences but remember, this is medical advice from a musician. Completely untrustworthy!
