SEATTLE — It's often been called "avocado hand" the name for a hand injury derived from cutting into an avocado. It's a lot more common than you think.
"It's something that's definitely been going on," said Dr. Chelsea Boe, a hand and microvascular surgeon at UW Medicine's Department of Orthopaedic Surgery.
Boe has seen a rising number of hand injuries resulting from slicing open an avocado, namely while removing the pit.
"Really it's people trying to put the tip of the knife into the pit of the avocado while holding it in their non-dominant hand and the tip of the knife will slip off that pit, go through that soft flesh of the avocado, and impact their hand underneath it," Boe said.
She estimates she and her team see 15 to 20 avocado hand injuries a year and that's at UW Medicine alone.
"But that's a huge underestimate because there are so many that get treated in the community," Boe said.
It's no wonder surgeons are seeing more cases. The U.S. Department of Agriculture found avocado consumption tripled in the last 20 years.
Medical journals are also observing hand injuries that have risen in this same time frame. One study found there were at least 49,000 emergency room visits in the U.S. due to hand injuries from cutting avocados, between the years 2000 to 2017.
Another study went so far as to call it, an "epidemic of hand injury."
"A lot of these are surgical. These aren't little cuts that we sew up in the emergency department. Some of those deeper structures that are injured, they need exploratory surgery to evaluate and potentially repair," Boe said.
For safety, it is recommended to halve an avocado while it is placed on a cutting board; it should not be halved and sliced while on the hand. Also, avoid whacking the pit with a knife and twisting it to remove it from the fruit. Instead, the pit should be removed with fingers or with a spoon.
"The real key thing is keeping the sharp knives and the sharp point and not aim towards your hand, so that's really the crux of it," Boe said.
'Avocado hand' injuries becoming more common: HealthLink
A UW Medicine hand surgeon weighs in on the rise in injuries derived from cutting into avocados.