The posek hador, Rav Yosef Shalom Elyashiv, underwent successful cataract surgery today to improve his vision, which significantly worsened over the past year.
As reported earlier here on Matzav.com, amazingly, when Rav Elyashiv was examined by a physician who determined that surgery should be performed, Rav Elyashiv responded with surprise, seemingly not having realized how much his eyesight had been weakened. He apparently just persevered and continued his immersion in Torah despite having severely diminished eyesight.
The surgery was performed at Shaarei Tzedek Medical Center in Yerushalayim.
Rav Elyashiv was taken to the hospital in the special vehicle of Rav Nosson Tzvi Finkel, rosh yeshiva of Yeshivas Mir-Yerushalayim, in order to make the drive from Rav Elyashiv’s Meah Shearim home more comfortable for the centenarian gadol.
Cataract surgery is the removal of the natural lens of the eye that has developed an opacification, referred to as a cataract, causing impairment or loss of vision. During cataract surgery, a patient’s cloudy natural lens is removed and replaced with a synthetic lens to restore the lens’s transparency.
Well over 90% of cataract operations are successful in restoring useful vision, with a low complication rate.
The surgery on Rav Elyashiv took approximately 15 minutes. There was no particular concern of complications, despite Rav Elyashiv’s age. The posek hador is well over 100 years old, bli ayin hara.
The surgery was performed by Dr. Bentzion Silverstone, director of ophthalmology at Shaarei Tzedek. The procedure was done under local anesthesia. Following the surgery, Rav Elyashiv was moved to the seventh floor of the hospital to convalesce.
Early this afternoon, Rav Elyashiv returned to his home on Rechov Chanan in Meah Shearim.
All are asked to continue davening for Rav Yosef Shalom ben Chaya Musha.
As first reported on Matzav.com, back in June, Rav Elyashiv underwent successful surgery to repair a coronary artery near his heart. That surgery was performed at Shaarei Tzedek by Dr. Daniel Clair, Chairman of the Department of Vascular Surgery at the Cleveland Clinic, who made the 5,700-mile trip to perform the procedure on Rav Elyashiv.
{Yair Alpert-Matzav.com Israel}
V’Hueir Ainainu B’esorosecha”Refuah Shlaimoh