Nishmat's Women’s Health and HalachaIn memory of Chaya Mirel bat R' Avraham

  • Hebrew
  • English
  • Espnaol
  • Francais
  • donate
Menu

Immersion with steristrips

3 January, 2011
Question:

Is there any leniency at all about immersing with steristrips on? A student of mine has had back surgery, and she has just been waiting and waiting to go to the mikvah. She got her period four days after the operation.

I’m pessimistic here because she isn’t allowed to remove the steristrips; they have to come off on their own.

Any constructive suggestions? Many, many thanks.


Answer:

Usually, the purpose of steristrips is to help keep a laceration together. After the incision has healed sufficiently (usually in the range of ten days), the steristrips no longer have much of a function to perform.

We suggest that your student consult her physicians about the possibility of removing the steristrips by gentle soaking in water (or other ideas they may have) and then get back to us (or you and a local halachic authority) with that information.  The section of our website designed for medical professionals, Jewish Women’s Health, has printable articles suited for physicians if she’d like to provide hers with some context. The most relevant article is Medical Devices as Barriers to Mikveh Immersion.

This internet service does not preclude, override or replace the psak of any rabbinical authority. It is the responsibility of the questioner to inform us of any previous consultation or ruling. As even slight variation in circumstances may have Halachic consequences, views expressed concerning one case may not be applied to other, seemingly similar cases. All health and health-related information contained within Nishmat's Women's Health & Halacha Web site is intended to be general in nature and should not be used as a substitute for consulting with your health care professional. The advice is intended to offer a basis for individuals to discuss their medical condition with their health care provider but not individual advice. Although every effort is made to ensure that the material within Nishmat's Women's Health & Halacha Web site is accurate and timely, it is provided for the convenience of the Web site user but should not be considered official. Advice for actual medical practice should be obtained from a licensed health care professional. For further questions or comments:  The Nishmat Women's Health and Halacha Site is a public service of Nishmat, The Jeanie Schottenstein Center for Advanced Torah Study for Women. This project and others like it are made possible by contributions from people like you. If you have benefited from the service, and wish to enable us to help others, click here to donate.
Users of Internet filtering services: This site discusses sensitive subjects that some services filter without visual indication. A page that appears 100% complete might actually be missing critical Jewish-law or medical information. To ensure that you view the pages accurately, ask the filtering service to whitelist all pages under yoatzot.org.

Accessibility Toolbar