| The scientific articles on the subject of Iridology are many. A recent article in the Archives of
Ophthalmology, 2000 by Ernst, E., was entitled "Iridology: Not Useful and
Potentially Harmful," and many similar articles by Ernst, including a
systematic review of four case-control studies, have been noted, all suggesting
that Iridology is not a valid diagnostic method. Ernst concludes that
"...the validity of iridology as a diagnostic tool is not supported by
scientific evaluations. Patients and therapists should be discouraged from using
this method." (Forschende-Komplementarmedizin, 1999 Feb 6(1):pp 7-9). Perhaps most widely known is the article in JAMA 1979, vol. 242, pages
1385-1387. In this study slides of the irises of people with known kidney
disease and slides of healthy people were examined by trained Iridologists.
There were 143 patients total in the study, 24 had severe kidney disease, 24 had
moderate kidney disease, and 95 were healthy. The three Iridologists were
incorrect nearly every time. In fact, they often read the irises of the
sickest people as being healthy and vice versa. They was no consensus in
diagnosis amongst the three Iridologists.
The second most widely known article is from the British Medical Journal
1988, vol. 297. pages 1578-1581. This study was similar to the one above.
There were 78 slides, one-half were from people with known gallbladder disease
and one-half were from healthy people. The five Dutch Iridologists had
similar results to guessing. They were incorrect on the diagnoses more
often than not. The Iridologists in
these studies claim that slides are not the same as an "live" examination.
However, many clinics merely take pictures of the iris and enlarge it onto
slides for the interpretation. Also, they claimed "poor quality" of the
slides making interpretation difficult. At the beginning of each study the
Iridologists were allowed to discard any slides they felt were of poor quality.
The camera in the second study even belonged to one of the Iridologists and was
used in his own clinic.
These are the two most widely known articles on the study of
iridology.
It is extremely difficult to locate an article supporting
Iridology that was performed with standard testing procedures. |
