I know a guy that had beginning stages of Dupuytren’s and used red/NIR light therapy on his hands several times weekly. That led to a reversal of the disease in a relatively short time (a few months). So this is something definitely worth trying. I have been using red/NIR light on my hands several times weekly for some months now but haven’t seen any difference, but I haven’t seen any progression either. I will continue using it since it may help for prevention.
Btw, to give an update on my disease progress. Two years ago I only had one nodule in my palm that had stabilized. One and a half year ago I then got a new nodule on the first joint of my pinky. That happened while I was already taking rapamycin, so unfortunately the rapamycin did not prevent it. I had not tried gotu kola at that point so I don’t know if it would have prevented the nodule from appearing, had I been taking it. After I got this second nodule I started the red/NIR light therapy.
Both of the nodules I got were clearly triggered by a minor “injury” while weight lifting. I say injury in quote marks because it’s not like I got obviously injured, it’s just that I had slight pain after pressing or holding heavy dumbbells, with the pain lasting for a few minutes. In case of the first nodule, I was pressing a 22 kg dumbbell with a metal handle and felt a small painful sting in my palm at one point when I moved my hand around and it slipped in my palm. The pain was gone in a few minutes and I didn’t think of it but then I got a nodule exactly where I got the pain a few months later. In case of the second nodule, I was carrying a 30 kg dumbbell like a suitcase as long as my grip could take it. The metal handle on that one started pressing on the first joint of my pinky while walking but I kept going for half a minute despite the pain. The pain disappeared a few minutes later and I didn’t think of it. Then a few months later I got a nodule there. Note that neither of the incidents left anything that could be noticed as an injury. And I had done these exercises many times before without an incident. But it clearly takes so little to trigger the disease and get the overactive fibroblasts growing.
Ever since I got the second nodule, I’ve been super careful with my hands and now wear thick gloves in the gym that protect not only the palms but also the fingers. I can say that I have seen no progression and no new nodules for the past year and a half and I’m hoping that I will be able to delay the disease for many years by being very careful with my hands.
I will continue the rapamycin, gotu kola and red light therapy in hope that they help prevent it too.