An eminent plastic surgeon has suggested that avocados should carry warning labels following a rise in the number of knife injuries from cutting into the fruit.

Simon Eccles, honorary secretary of the British Association of Plastic, Reconstructive and Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons, said he treated about four patients a week at Chelsea and Westminster Hospital for wounds caused by an avocado accident, with staff dubbing the injury “avocado hand”.

Mr Eccles told The Times: “People do not anticipate that the avocados they buy can be very ripe and there is minimal understanding of how to handle them. We don’t want to put people off the fruit but I think warning labels are an effective way of dealing with this.

“It needs to be recognisable. Perhaps we could have a cartoon picture of an avocado with a knife, and a big red cross going through it?”

David Shewring, vice-president of the British Society for Surgery of the Hand, also told the newspaper: “Recently the health benefits of avocado have been advocated, with an increase in their popularity – and a consequent increase in related injuries.”

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