The Eye: The Blueprint to a Healthy Body The Eye
According to Iridology the iris of the eye is like a blueprint to the entire body. Iridologists believe that the eye is an intricate blueprint to a person’s inherent strengths and weaknesses. For those readers who are not aware of what Iridology is–it happens to be an alternative medical technique which utilizes the patterns, colors, and other characteristics of the iris to determine information about a patient’s systemic health. Essentially, Iridologists believe that they can match their observations of the eye to an eye chart, which divides the iris into zones. These zones correspond to specific parts of the human body. Iridologists believe that they can utilize these charts to distinguish between healthy systems and organs in the body and those that may potentially be overactive, inflamed, or distressed.
Iridology has a very long history, in the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, writings and works on Iris markings and their meanings were recorded, mainly by medical practitioners. One of the most renowned and earliest practitioners of Iridology was Dr. Ignatz von Peczely.
According to the YouTube video, Dr. Ignatz von Peczely, a Hungarian Doctor and surgeon from the Vienna Medical College would study irises of patients before and after surgical proceedings and record his finding. In 1818 Dr. Ignatz van Peczely published his research and eye chart in the book ‘Discoveries in the Realms of Nature and Art of Healing’.
Iridology has come a long way since the 18th century, with large strides under the research of people such as Dr. Bernard Jensen. Dr. Jensen travelled all over the United States and 65 other countries observing peoples health choices, nutritional choices, and cultures. He was interested in Longevity. What he ascertained through all of his travels was that 80% of what Iridologists see in the irises tells them about their patients’ genetics. From the start of his practice Dr. Jensen has serviced more than 350,000 patients in his tenure. This includes Actors, Artists, and other famous people. Dr. Bernard Jensen’s protégé Ellen Tart-Jensen, Ph.D., D. Sc. CCIIhas successfully used Iridology on Grammy award winning singer songwriter Jewel.
In the video Jewel was very honest about the fact that she was skeptical at first about Iridology. She thought it sounded like “palm reading”, but then became a major supporter when Iridologist Dr. Ellen Tart-Jensen, from looking at her eyes was able to ascertain a kidney issue that all standard medical doctors wrote off as nothing being wrong. When in actuality Jewel had been suffering from chronic infections in her kidneys. But with working with Ellen Tart Jensen and taking her recommendations on a new nutritional plan, Jewel has been healthier ever since.
We, at Infinite Iris, are proud to be promoting Ellen Tart Jensen’s newest e-textbook Techniques in Iris Analysis. The e-textbook will be available at myinfiniteiris.com in early, January, however printed hardcovers are available today at bernardjensen.com.
Iridilogy real or fake
There are many medical pseudosciences that persist despite a utter lack of either plausibility or evidence for efficacy. Some practices emerged out of their culture of origin, or out of the prevailing ideas of a pre-scientific age, while others were manufactured out of the imagination of perhaps well-meaning but highly misguided individual practitioners. They were just made up – homeopathy, for example, or subluxation theory.
Iridology belongs to this latter category – a system of diagnosis that was invented entirely by Ignatz Peczely, a Hungarian physician who first published his ideas in 1893. The story goes that Peczely as a boy found an owl with a broken leg. At the time he noticed a prominent black stripe in the iris of one eye of the owl. He nursed the bird back to health and then noticed that the black line was gone, replaced by ragged white lines. From this single observation Peczely developed the notion of iridology.
Peczely’s idea was that the iris maps to the rest of the body in some way, and therefore the flecks of color in the iris reflect the state of health of the various body parts. This basic approach to diagnosis or treatment is called the homunculus approach – the idea that one part of the body maps to the rest of the body, including the organ systems. Reflexology, auricular acupuncture, and even straight chiropractic follow this approach.
This is what might have happened next: After publishing his initial observations, Peczely set out to test his ideas with well-designed observations that were capable of proving his hypothesis wrong. He carefully built a body of descriptive, but well-established, facts about the relationship between the iris and health. Later, anatomists discovered the underlying mechanism of this connection – a vast system of interconnectedness between the iris and the rest of the body. Further research built on the iris connection, and later medical scientists found more and more ways to exploit this fascinating aspect of anatomy and physiology.
Of course, this is not what happened. Peczely did not do any serious scientific research. Rather, he simply invented a pseudoscience, by drawing maps of the iris that were as much a product of his imagination as observation, and were largely the result of confirmation bias. He did not perform blinded studies, or produce the kind of evidence that could separate a real phenomenon from an imaginary one. Iridology, as his practice became known, is the N-rays of medical diagnosis. Further, no subsequent science has supported the plausibility or reality of iridology. There is no underlying anatomy or physiology that can explain how the iris would reflect the state of function of any other part of the body.
This, unfortunately, has not stopped iridology from surviving on the medical fringe for more than a century. The modern popularity of iridology, especially in the US, can be traced back to a chiropractor named Bernard Jensen. He published the book, The Science and Practice of Iridology in 1952. Iridology, or iris diagnosis, continues to be practiced by so-called alternative practitioners, including some chiropractors and naturopaths. It has never been recognized as a legitimate medical practice. For example, for $150 naturopath Frank Navratil will diagnose you from a digital image of your eyes.
Often the iris diagnosis (which can also be done by software analysis) leads to recommendations for supplementation, which are conveniently sold by the iridologist. Here is a description of how iridology is used by a proponent:
The iris reveals changing conditions of every part and organ of the body. Every organ and part of the body is represented in the iris in a well defined area. In addition, through various marks, signs, and discoloration in the iris, nature reveals inherited weaknesses and strengths.
By means of this art/science, an iridologist (one who studies the coloration and fiber structure of the eye) can tell an individual his/her inherited and acquired tendencies towards health and disease, his current condition in general, and the state of every organ in particular.
Iridology cannot detect a specific disease, but, can tell an individual if they have over or under activity in specific areas of the body. For example, an under-active pancreas might indicate a diabetic condition.
Other sites caution that iridology cannot diagnosis pregnancy, because that is a natural condition of the body, and also cannot diagnose prior surgery, as anything that happens under anesthesia will block the signals that would otherwise change the iris. In other words – iridology only tells you about the susceptibility for disease – it cannot actually diagnose a disease or any other verifiable condition. This reasoning is called special pleading – the invention of a special rationalization for each fact that might otherwise falsify a claim or belief. Iridology, apparently, can only discern those things that cannot be verified or falsified.
What you end up with is a medical cold reading – similar to what a mentalist does to create the illusion of mind reading or psychic powers. While “reading” the iris the iridologist can ask about certain health issues. If they are present, that is used to validate iridology. If absent, then the subject simply has a susceptibility for the missing problem.
Iridology lacks any plausibility and its history is that of a pseudoscience, not a legitimate practice. But still we listen to the best scientific evidence in determining whether or not iridology is real. Perhaps Peczely got lucky and made a correct observation despite his lack of scientific confirmation. If iridologists could demonstrate that their readings provide real information, then we would have to take their claims seriously.
In 2000 Edzard Ernst (not surprisingly) published a systematic review of iridology research. He concluded:
In conclusion, few controlled studies with masked evaluation of diagnostic validity have been published. None have found any benefit from iridology. As iridology has the potential for causing personal and economic harm, patients and therapists should be discouraged from using it.
As with N-rays, when blinding is introduced iridology is exposed as a complete fiction. Under controlled conditions iridologists cannot agree with each other as to diagnosis, and cannot distinguish healthy subjects of very ill subjects. Since the Ernst review I found one other well-controlled study of iridology, this one in cancer diagnosis. From the abstract:
SUBJECTS:
One hundred ten (110) subjects were enrolled in the study: 68 subjects had histologically proven cancers of the breast, ovary, uterus, prostate, or colorectum, and 42 were control subjects.
METHODS:
All subjects were examined by an experienced practitioner of iridology, who was unaware of their gender or medical details. He was allowed to suggest up to five diagnoses for each subject and his results were then compared with each subject’s medical diagnosis to determine the accuracy of iridology in detecting malignancy.
RESULTS:
Iridology identified the correct diagnosis in only 3 cases (sensitivity, 0.04).
CONCLUSION:
Iridology was of no value in diagnosing the cancers investigated in this study
There are no well designed studies that are positive.
Conclusion: Iridology is bunk
Iridology is an excellent example of pseudoscience in medicine, displaying many of the core features. It was invented by one individual based upon a single observation. It follows a pre-scientific notion of biology – the homunculus model. It lacks any basis in anatomy, physiology, or any other basic science. Its practitioners are mostly “alternative” practitioners who use the technique as a cold reading. And the research clearly shows that iridology has absolutely no effect – it does not provide any useful information at all.
Anyone using or promoting iridology is, therefore, a pseudoscientific practitioner. Any profession that endorses iridology is not science-based and should be looked upon with suspicion.
Iridology real work
The difficulty with proving iridology as a science is that there are no studies being accomplished in North America, yet, there are several studies from other countries that show great reliability of iridology as valid diagnostic tool.
For example, three recent studies showing good success in detecting diabetes:
Journal Article: Learning to predict diabetes from iris image analysis:
http://inderscience.metapress.com/content/e3670g62754562pj/
Journal Article: Early Detection on the Condition of Pancreas Organ as the Cause of Diabetes Mellitus by Real Time Iris Image Processing:
http://www.iridologyinternational.com/node/1442
Journal Article: Abnormal condition detection of pancreatic Beta-cells as the cause of Diabetes Mellitus based on iris image:
http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/xpl/articleDetails.jsp?arnumber=6108614
And some interesting iridology studies that were accomplished in Russia:
http://www.iridologyinternational.com/content/russian-iridology-clinical-studies
What Iridology can Reveals-Dr. Jim Jinks
Inherently weak organs, glands and tissues.
Inherently strong organs, glands and tissues.
Constitutional strength or weakness.
What organ is in greatest need of repair and rebuilding.
Relative amounts of toxic settlements in organs, glands and tissues.
Stages of tissue inflammation and activity.
Where inflammation is located in the body.
Under activity or sluggishness of the bowel.
Spastic conditions or ballooned conditions of the bowel.
The need for acidophilus in the bowel.
Prolapsus of the transverse colon.
Nervous condition or inflammation of the bowel.
High-risk tissue areas in the body that may be leading to a disease.
Pressure on the heart.
Circulation level in various organs
Nerve force and nerve depletion.
Hyperactivity or hypo activity of organs, glands or tissues.
Influence of one organ on another, contribution of one organ to a condition elsewhere in the body.
Lymphatic system congestion.
Poor assimilation of nutrients.
Depletion of minerals in any organ, gland or tissue.
Relative ability of an organ, gland or tissue to hold nutrients.
Results of physical or mental fatigue on the body.
Need for rest to build up immunity.
Tissue areas contributing to suppressed or buried symptoms.
High or low sex drive.
A genetic pattern of inherent weaknesses and their influence on other organs, glands and tissues.
Pre-clinical stages of potential diabetes, cardiovascular conditions and other diseases.
Miasms.
Recuperative ability and the health level of the body.
Build up of toxic material before the materialization of disease.
Genetic weaknesses affecting the nerves, blood supply and mineralization of bones.
Genetic influence on any symptoms present.
Healing signs indicating an increase in strength in an organ, gland or tissue.
Bone marrow problems.
Potential for varicose veins in legs as shown by inherent weakness.
Positive and negative nutritional needs of the body.
Probably allergy to wheat.
Sources of infection.
Acidity of the body or catarrh development, as indicated by acute signs in the iris.
Suppression of catarrh, as indicated by sub acute or chronic signs in the iris.
Condition of the tissue in any part of the body or all parts of the body at one time.
Climate and altitude best for patient.
Potential contributions to sterility.
Effects of polluted environment.
Adrenal suppression, which may indicate low blood pressure, lack of energy, slowed tissue repair, deficiencies of vitamin C and adrenaline.
Resistance to disease, as shown by amount of toxic settlements in the body.
Relationship or unity of symptoms with conditions in organs, glands and tissues.
The difference between a healing crisis and a disease crisis.
The workings of Hering’s Law of Cure.
Whether a particular program or therapy is working or not.
The quality of nerve force in the body.
Response to treatment; how well the body is healing itself and at what rate.
The “whole” overall health level of the body as a unified structure.
Iridology History
Examining a person’s eyes to help determine their health is an ancient practice dating back at least as far as the ancient Greeks.
The first explicit description of iridological principles such as homo-laterality (without using the word iridology) are found in Chiromatica Medica, a famous work published in 1665 and reprinted in 1670 and 1691 by Philippus Meyeus (Philip Meyen von Coburg).The first use of the word Augendiagnostik (“eye diagnosis,” loosely translated as iridology) began with Ignatz von Peczely, a 19th-century Hungarian physician. The most common story is that he got the idea for this diagnostic tool after seeing similar streaks in the eyes of a man he was treating for a broken leg and the eyes of an owl whose leg von Peczely had broken many years before. At the First International Iridological Congress of Iridology, Ignaz von Peczely’s nephew, Dr August von Peczely, dismissed this myth as an apocryphal, and maintained that such claims were irreproducible.German contribution in the Naturheilkunde field is due to a minister Pastor Felke, who developed a form of homeopathy for treating specific illnesses and described new iris signs in the early 1900s.
However, Pastor Felke was subject to long and bitter litigation. The Pastor Felke Institute in Heimshiem, Germany was established as a leading center of iridologic research and training.Iridology became popular in the United States in the 1950s, when Bernard Jensen, an American chiropractor, began giving classes in his own method. This is in direct relationship with P. Johannes Thiel, Eduard Lahn (becoming an American under the name of Edward Lane) and J Haskell Kritzer. Jensen insisted on the body’s exposure to toxins, and the use of natural foods as detoxifiers.Few medical researchers managed to secure funding to study the possible non-visual functions of the eye. In a paper published in Medical Hypotheses, one such group tried to explain the observed patterns of iris transparency that distribute light into the ora serrata (the edge of the optic retina) by postulating a so-called functio ocularis systemica. Based on this hypothesis, the researchers have developed the experimental trans-iridal light therapy method; however, no independent confirmation of the theory and method exists to date. Other results from the mentioned research include early attempts at computerized iris imaging for the purpose of iridologic diagnosis.
MAIKONG IRIDOLOGY SOFTWARE Installation and operation
