Although he gained much esteem for treating Napoleon Bonaparte's hemorrhoids he is best known today for his description of Dupuytren's contracture, which is named after him and on which he first operated in 1831 and published in The Lancet in 1834.

He studied medicine at the newly established École de Médecine in Paris and was appointed prosector, by competition, when only eighteen years of age.

By his indefatigable activity he amassed a fortune, the bulk of which he bequeathed to his daughter, with the deduction of considerable sums for the endowment of the anatomical chair in the École de Médecine and the establishment of a benevolent institution for distressed physicians.

[4] Dupuytren was one of the first surgeons to drain a brain abscess successfully using trepanation, in which a hole is cut in the skull, and he also used the method to treat seizures.

[6] He reported a case of breast cancer spontaneous remission in which, after the patient refused surgery, the tumour becoming enlarged, rupturing and becoming infected, it began to shrink and disappeared after a few weeks.