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Dr. Eric Wagner of Emory University shared his warnings about cutting avocados
As the weather warms up, it’s the time of year for avocado toast and fresh guacamole.
However, doctors warn that thousands will cut their hands trying to prepare their favorite avocado snack this summer, with the ‘peak season’ running from April to July.
In addition, serious accidents in the kitchen can lead to permanent nerve damage and severed fingers.
The injury, called “avocado hand” by hand surgeons, most commonly occurs when someone cuts an avocado with a knife while holding it in one hand, or when using the tip of a knife to try to remove the fruit’s pit .
This makes it easy for the person to lose their grip while cutting into the avocado, causing the knife to cut into their hand instead.
Hand surgeons have warned that avocado hand injuries are on the rise this summer, leading to nerve damage and amputated fingers
Dr. Eric Wagner, a hand surgeon and associate professor of orthopedic surgery at Emory University in Atlanta, told the WashingtonPost: ‘I have treated people who have cut off a finger while cutting an avocado.
‘Cutting an avocado seems so harmless, but we’ve seen some pretty serious injuries from it. The vast majority of injuries I have seen are injuries from avocados.”
In 2020,Dr. Wagner and his colleagues a study published after seeing so many of these accidents and looking at the number of injuries.
They found that between 1998 and 2017, more than 50,000 Americans went to the emergency room due to avocado-related knife injuries. And these incidents have increased over time.
From 1998 to 2002, there were only 3,143 cases. But between 2013 and 2017, that number rose to 27,059 cases.
And another 2020 study About one in fifty knife injuries are due to cutting avocados.
This explosion in cases may be due to the fact that avocados have become increasingly popular in recent years.
Federal data shows that the average American ate 1.5 pounds of avocados per year in 1989, but in 2017 that number rose to 7.5 pounds.
Injuries to avocado hands can result in critical nerves, muscles, tendons, and blood vessels being severed.
According to the University of Utah Health, this can lead to loss of the ability to bend your fingers, numbness or loss of sensation in the fingers, difficulty making a fist and inability to use your hand normally.
Dr. Wagner’s research found that most injuries occurred in women between the ages of 23 and 29, and that the wounds were most commonly in the left hand, as most people used their right hand to hold the knife.
About half of the injuries were lacerations to the palms of the hands, while the other half involved finger injuries.
And most incidents occurred on weekends, as Dr. Wagner noted that that’s when more people are cooking and barbecuing, which may be less safe than normal.
“A lot of people I see were at a family event when it happened and alcohol was involved,” he said.
According to the California Avocado Commission, there are several steps to properly cutting an avocado. The agency recommends placing the fruit on a cutting board and cutting it in half lengthwise around the pit.
Then turn the avocado a quarter turn and cut it again lengthwise around the pit. Put the knife down and separate the quarters to remove the pit.