Ouch! Neil Patrick Harris has surgery months after freak encounter with a sea urchin

Sea urchin: 1. Neil Patrick Harris: 0.

The "How I Met Your Mother" star, 46, revealed that he had surgery on his hand to cure the aftereffects of a chance encounter he had with a sea urchin while vacationing in Europe over the summer.

"Had surgery today," he wrote Tuesday on Instagram. "I tripped and hand planted onto a sea urchin almost two months ago while climbing rocky cliffs in Croatia. Most of the tiny spines I dug out myself, but two refused to leave and one got infected."

Harris said his injury was more serious than he thought. "Turns out it pierced through a tendon (see ultrasound video)," he said. But the actor is now "officially urchin free and on the mend" thanks to his medical team.

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Despite sharing a picture of himself frowning from a hospital bed in a standard gown, matching cap and an IV drip, Harris appears to be in good spirits.

"All in all, though, I have to say: uni is still delicious," he quipped.

The only downside? "Having to wear this massive hand elevating contraption for the foreseeable future (see third pic)," the father of two said.

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Neil Patrick Harris became pincushion to a sea urchin while on vacation this summer. He had to have surgery to remove some of the spines Tuesday.
Neil Patrick Harris became pincushion to a sea urchin while on vacation this summer. He had to have surgery to remove some of the spines Tuesday.

In August, Harris vacationed in Croatia with husband David Burtka and their 9-year-old twins, Harper and Gideon. And, despite going home with that sea urchin souvenir, he seemed to have a great time overseas with his family.

"Jumping for joy, if joy is three stories up," he captioned a slow-motion Instagram video of himself leaping off of a boat into the ocean.

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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Neil Patrick Harris has surgery after freak encounter with sea urchin