1. When the time comes to remove a bandage, it is preferable not to remove it on Shabbat if it will definitely cause hair to rip, as that would violate the melachah of gozez (shearing, which includes detaching hair from the body) (see Shulchan Aruch 312:7). If one can do so in a manner that it is not definite that hair will rip, that is preferable, as then it is a “davar she’eino mitkaven,” where it is not intentional and not definite that the melachah will occur, which is permitted.

2. If one feels the bandage must be removed because it is causing pain or significant discomfort, even if some hairs will definitely rip, one may do so. This is due to a combination of halachic factors, including that it is a pesik reisha d’lo nicha leh (one does not want/care if the hair is detached), it is done in a destructive manner, and this is not the normal manner in which the melachah of gozez takes place (Shulchan Shlomo 328:73).

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Dedicated by Fran Broder as a zechus for everlasting peace in Eretz Yisrael in the merit of learning Hilchos Shabbos.