Dupuytren's contracture. Contracted finger of a male patient with Dupuytren's contracture. This is a disorder of the hand in which one or more fingers become fixed in a bent position. The symptoms are a thickening and shortening of the tissues under the skin in the palm of the hand. There is no apparent cause for this thickening. The thickening pulls the tendons that control the fingers. A small hard nodule forms on the palm of the hand and spreads to form a band of hard tissue under the skin, with puckering of the skin itself. The affected fingers progressively bend more over time and cannot be pulled back. The only treatment is surgical correction.