Dupuytren was the chief surgeon under Napoleon in the late 1700's, and was considered by many to be the top surgeon in France if not Europe at the time. He was a brilliant but controversial figure in medicine at the time, and was the head of the famous Hotel Dieu hospital in Il de Cite in Paris near the Cathedral Notre Dame.
He was not the first individual to describe Dupuytren's disease or to provide treatment, but did extensively publish his opinion of the cause of the disorder and surgical treatment. Probably his veracity and development of surgical fasciotomy led to the naming of the disorder for him.
