(Wired) – The biodegradable material can help improve healing after surgery—or an avocado-related accident.

Roughly 500,000 Americans suffer nerve injuries that require treatment each year, whether from an errant attempt to hack out an avocado pit or an unfortunate woodworking accident. Many will never get full feeling back in their fingers. But a startup has developed a thick and sticky liquid that could change that, and it’s begun deploying it with surgeons in the US.

French firm Tissium is working to replace and supplement medical stitches with a liquid that attaches to tissue when exposed to light. A biopolymer made of fatty acid and glycerol—both of which naturally occur in the body—the liquid acts like a splint to hold the nerves in place while the tissue mends itself. It then biodegrades after the body heals, leaving nerves intact. (Read More)