One of Imam's relatives says:
In Najaf Imam felt pain in his eyes and he went to a doctor, the doctor said: "You must not recite Qur'an for a few days, give your eyes comfort." Imam laughed and replied: "Doctor I need my eyes to recite Qur'an! How useless it would be to have eyes and not recite Qur'an. You should do something that I could recite Qur'an."
Outlines of Imam Khomeini's ways of life-vol. 3, p. 7