|
|
| About site: Alternative/Iridology - The Skeptic's Dictionary - Iridology |
Return to Health also Health
|
| About site: http://www.skepdic.com/iridol.html |
Title: Alternative/Iridology - The Skeptic's Dictionary - Iridology Overview of history, with skeptical analysis.
|
|
|
|
|
Bacteria_and_Foodborne_Illness Discusses the causes, risk factors, and complications associated with foodborne illness. Reviews treatment options and prevention strategies.
| NCI\'s_CancerNet_Cancer_Information A connection to a wide range of accurate, credible cancer information from the National Cancer Institute (NCI). Information reviewed regularly by oncology experts and based on the latest research. Has
| I_Hate_Butterflies Community for people that fear butterflies and moths (Mottephobia or Lepidopterophobia).
| Between_Women An advocacy, education and support organization devoted exclusively to breast health. Located in California's Imperial Valley.
| Tuning_In Practical guide and reference handbook of principles, theories and techniques for equine craniosacral therapy and somato-emotional release, by E. Bailey Tune.
| Chamonix_Hospital_Cold_Injury_Page Research, evaluation, prevention and information in Mountain Medicine and Traumatology. By Mountain Medicine and Traumatology Department of Chamonix Hospital.
|
|
| Alexa statistic for http://www.skepdic.com/iridol.html |
Please visit: http://www.skepdic.com/iridol.html
|
| Related sites for http://www.skepdic.com/iridol.html |
| RSD_Victims_Support_Group Online support group for patients and families dealing with reflex sympathetic dystrophy. Provides information, links, news and personal experiences from sufferers. | | Argentine_Society_for_Psychotrauma Provides details of training and open access to relevent articles from the Ibero American Journal. Available in English and Spanish. | | Cedars-Sinai_Maxine_Dunitz_Neurosurgical_Institute Provides information about types of brain tumors and advancements in treating them, including radiosurgery and tumor vaccines, as well as traditional cancer therapies. | | The_Canadian_Celiac_Association_-_Vancouver_Chapter Provides comprehensive, but straightforward access to information essential for local and visiting Celiacs. | | Pilates_Studio_Inc_ Pilates certification in centers across the USA. | | Armed_Forces_Institute_of_Pathology Information about the imaging and pathology of SARS. | | Friends_in_Need Support for breast cancer survivors of all ages, tips, information, chat, message board and listserve Email discussion. | | Cambridge_Continence_-_Bedwetting_clinic Medical clinic for bedwetting, day wetting and bowel problems. Educational material and statistical analysis of outcomes. Run by pediatrician and continence nurses. | | Coach_Training_Alliance Delivers coaching and mentoring programs for life coaching, personal coaching, executive and business coaching. | | News_Briefs An article on the use of acupuncture to treat drug addiction. | | Carolinas_Poison_Center The Center, by the American Association of Poison Control Centers (AAPCC), offering pertinent information regarding bites, poisons, snakes and bugs in addition a section on stopping childhood poisonin | | DermNet_NZ__Seborrhoeic_Dermatitis The New Zealand Dermatological Society offers photographs and descriptions of the condition. | | Billycook_com Billy Cook battled cystic fibrosis and died. The site generates funding for patients of this deadly disease. | | eMedicine__Hypernatremia__ Clinical article by Steven L Stephanides, MD explains how sodium is regulated in the system, what causes high levels, how they are diagnosed, and treatment. | | Cyndy\'s_Journal A journal about personal progress and treatment for liposarcoma. | | NASP_Career_Center The National Association of School Psychologists site allows employers to post jobs available and qualified applicants can store their resume and respond. Includes job related articles. | | Ottawa_Shores_ENT_Associates,_PC Practice located in Grand Haven, Michigan. Site describes services offered, staff biographies, educational materials, and patient forms. | | Fight_Alopecia The Fighting Alopecia Areata Club aims to raise money and inform the public about this disease that results in the loss of hair on the scalp and elsewhere. Find projects, a forum and a photo gallery. | | Miradon Full prescribing information from RxList. | | Triphasil-21 Prescribing information for US residents in PDF format. [Acrobat Reader required] |
|
This is websites2007.org cache of m/ as retrieved on 2008.11.18 websites2007.org's cache is the snapshot that we took of the page as we crawled the web. The page may have changed since that time.
|
iridology
Robert Todd Carroll
SkepDic.com
 Click to order from Amazon
Eye-opening success for iris scans (New Scientist)
 iridology
 Iridology is the study of the iris
to diagnose disease. Iridology is based on the questionable assumption that
every organ in the human body has a corresponding location within the iris
and that one can determine whether an organ is healthy or diseased by
examining the iris rather than the organ itself.
Medical doctors see the
iris as the
colored part of the
eye that regulates the amount of light entering by a contractile opening in
the center, the pupil.
The lens brings the light rays to a focus, forming an image on the retina where the light
falls on the rods and cones, causing them to stimulate the optic nerve and transmit
visual impressions to the brain. Medical doctors and optometrists recognize that certain
symptoms of nonocular disease can be detected by examining the eye. If a
problem is suspected, these doctors then refer the patient to an
appropriate specialist for further examination. However, recognizing symptoms of disease by looking
in the eyes is not what iridology is about. In fact, when
iridologists have been tested to see if they could distinguish healthy from
sick people by looking at slides of their eyes, they have failed. In a study
published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (1979,
vol. 242, 1385-1387), three iridologists incorrectly identified nearly all
of the study slides of the irises of 143 healthy and diseased people. “In
fact, they often read the irises of the sickest people as being healthy and
vice versa. They did not even agree with each other.” Similar results
involving five Dutch iridologists were published in the British Medical
Journal (1988, vol. 297, 1578-1581) (Lisa
Niebergall, M.D.).
Iridology goes way beyond the claim that the eyes often provide signs
of disease. Iridologists maintain that each organ has a counterpart in the
eye and that you can determine the state of the organ's health by looking
at a particular section of the eye. This belief did not originate with
scientific investigation but with one man's intuition.
Ignatz von Péczely, a 19th-century Hungarian physician
invented iridology. He got the idea for this novel diagnostic tool when he saw a
a dark streak in the eyes of a man he was treating for a broken leg and it
reminded him of a similar dark streak in the eyes of an owl whose leg he had broken years earlier. Von Péczely then went on to document similarities in eye markings and
illnesses in his patients. Others completed the map of the eye. A typical map
divides the eye into sections, using the image of a clock face as a base. So, for
example, if you want to know the condition of a patient's thyroid gland, you need not
touch the patient to feel for any enlargement of the gland. Nor do you need to do any
tests of the gland itself. All you need to do is look in the
iris of the right eye at about 2:30 and the iris of
the left eye at about 9:30. Discolorations, flecks, streaks, etc. in those parts
of the eyes are all you need concern yourself with, if it is the condition of the thyroid
you wish to know. For problems with the vagina or penis, look at 5 o'clock in the right
eye. And so on. An iridologist can do an examination with nothing more than an iridology
map, a magnifying glass, and a flashlight.
If von Péczely's reasoning is typical, we can surmise that he and other iridologists
deceived themselves by looking for and finding correlations between eye markings and
illness (confirmation bias). They were working with vague notions of "markings" and
"illness." Diseases may not have been precisely or accurately diagnosed in
many cases. They were able to validate iridology by finding many correlations that in fact
were not established as causal relationships by rigorously defined
controlled studies.
Some of their correlations may be accurate, but many are undoubtedly bogus, due to very
broad interpretations of "markings" and "disease." They found patterns
where in fact there are no patterns (apophenia). They misinterpreted data and gave extraordinary
significance to confirmations, while ignoring or not seeking disconfirmations. Many of
their confirmations may have been matters of
subjective validation.
We do not know how much the power of suggestion played in their patients'
illnesses. Many diagnoses were probably wrong, but no objective tests were done to check
out the validity of the diagnoses. Some diagnoses may have been correct but the
iridologists may have been using other signs besides eye markings to make their diagnoses.
What is most peculiar about the iris is that each is unique and
unchangeable, so much so that many claim that the iris is a better
identifier of an individual than fingerprints.
See also acupuncture
and reflexology.
further reading
reader comments
Iridology
by Stephen Barrett, M.D.
Iridology's Blind Side
by George Nava True II
Barrett, Stephen and William T. Jarvis. eds. The Health Robbers: A Close Look at
Quackery in America, (Amherst, N.Y.: Prometheus Books, 1993).
Gilovich, Thomas. How We Know What Isn't So: The Fallibility of Human Reason in
Everyday Life (New York: The Free Press, 1993).
Hines, Terence. "Iridology," in Pseudoscience and the Paranormal
(Buffalo, NY: Prometheus Books, 1990).
Gardner, Martin. "Medical Cults/Quacks," in Fads and Fallacies in the
Name of Science (New York: Dover Publications, Inc., 1957).
Raso, Jack. "Alternative" Healthcare: A Comprehensive Guide
(Amherst, NY: Prometheus Books, 1994).
Worrall, Russell S. "Iridology: Diagnosis or Delusion?" in Science
Confronts the Paranormal, edited by Kendrick Frazier. (Buffalo, N.Y.: Prometheus
Books,1986).
©copyright 2007
Robert Todd Carroll
IQ and Race
Last
updated 09/09/08
Web
skepdic.com
isopathy 
geovisit(); |
|
| |
Overview | of | history, | with | skeptical | analysis. |
|
http://www.skepdic.com/iridol.html
The Skeptic's Dictionary - Iridology 2008 November
dvd rental
dvd
Overview of history, with skeptical analysis.
Rules
|
© 2008 Internet Explorer 5+ or Netscape 6+
|
|
Recommended Sites: 1.
Arts -
Business -
Computers -
Games -
Health -
Home -
Kids and Teens -
News -
Recreation -
Reference -
Regional -
Science -
Shopping -
Society -
Sports -
World
Miss Gallery
- Top Anime Hentai
- DVD rental by mail
- Ringtones - Credit Cards - Books - Free Advertising - Credit Cards
|
