Kitchen knife accidents are frequent, and sometimes serious. Hand injuries can leave sensory and motor sequelae.
Peeling an avocado is not always easy. If it is not ripe enough, removing the nucleus can be a challenge. If it is too much, the flesh softens and complicates the task. This little inconvenience of everyday life sometimes causes knife injuries which can be serious.
So much so that the association of British cosmetic surgeons is appealing to distributors, asking them to affix a label intended to help their fellow citizens to consume them safely.
Injuries are on the rise across the Channel, where the green fruit is very popular. Simon Eccles, a London surgeon cited by the Times, claims to see four patients with avocado-related trauma per week.
The thumb, the first victim
“In France, we often observe similar injuries in people who open oysters,” explains Dr Michael Benassayag, hand surgeon at the Saint-Joseph Saint-Luc hospital in Lyon. And very classically too, for all the fruits and vegetables that it is usual to cut and peel directly in the hand. In right-handed people, it is the left hand that is injured, and in left-handed people, it is the reverse. “
Most often, the knives slip in the thumb, severing the muscles. But they can also affect nerves, arteries or tendons. In these cases, the reconstruction is more complicated, and it is necessary to call in a specialist of the hand, specifies the surgeon.
“The wounds are often small in appearance, and do not always suggest the extent of the damage,” he adds. It is necessary to operate by enlarging the superficial cut, to see what is happening more in depth at the nervous, arterial and tendon levels. “
Risk of complications
And a simple little kitchen injury can leave its mark. If the arteries are severed, patients may suffer from poor blood flow, the fingers turn white, pain appears, especially when it is cold.
If the sensory nerves are affected, the tenderness of the pulp may disappear. “I tell my patients that they have a one in two chance of recovering half of their sensitivity,” adds Dr. Benassayag. They are also at risk for a neuroma, which causes pain similar to electric shocks. But it is when the tendons are severed that the sequelae are the most disabling. It is then necessary to repair to avoid the loss of flexion of the finger. “
To prevent the simple cutting of an avocado from having disproportionate consequences, some basic rules must be observed: cut the avocado (like other fruits and vegetables) on a board. Once the two parts are separated, the core can be removed with a spoon, just like the skin.
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