Avocados can kill.

OK, maybe that's an exaggeration, but an improper use of the knife to cut the fruit's hard outer casing before meeting the inner stone can seriously mess up your hand and cause life-changing tendon and nerve injuries.

Meryl Streep warned us. Jamie Oliver instructed us.

But we didn't listen, and now the British Association of Plastic, Reconstructive and Aesthetic Surgeons (BAPRAS) has raised the alarm to literally stop a collective haemorrhage.

Simon Eccles, secretary of the association and former president of the plastic surgery section of the Royal Society of Medicine, told The Timesthat he treats about FOUR patients a week with the so-called "avocado hand" at Chelsea and Westminster Hospital in London.

At another hospital, St Thomas, staff say they record a "post-brunch surge" on Saturdays. The phenomenon is real, guys, and there's nothing to joke about.

"People do not anticipate that the avocados they buy can be very ripe and there is minimal understanding of how to handle them," Eccles told The Times.

"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 recognizable. Perhaps we could have a cartoon picture of an avocado with a knife, and a big red cross going through it?"

On social media, people are documenting this horrible injury under the hashtag #avocadoinjury and #avocadohand:

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There's an argument that the surge of cooking TV show is to blame for that, with people trying to imitate professional chefs in stabbing the stone from the avocado and ending up with a stab and slash injury.

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Instead, here's Jamie Oliver's technique:

It's all about carefully slicing the avocado in half with a sharp knife (never apply too much pressure and move around the stone once you encounter it). Then, place the fruit on the counter top and -- hands away -- use the knife to tap the stone and lift it out.

Easy, innit?