Iridiology?

[nncdalton]

I had a girl (who I didn't really like) come up to my husband whom she was good "friends" with in highschool and ask how I was doing. Then she proceded to give him her card for me to come and see her at her "Iridology Practice". She then took the time to explain to him that she would look at the iris of my eye and then tell me the toxins that are in my body and that once we eliminate those, through and extensive diet and vitamine "treatment" I could possibly never have any trouble again. Is this snake oil? There was a pamphlet that said this was real cure to many of today's diseases. Has anyone here been to one of these practitioners?
I simply do not see the science behind all that I read about. If I am wrong about this please someone correct me.
Maybe I think it is wierd is because I did not like the girl, couldn't stand her.
Input?

Christy D

[biowham]

I didn't mean that you were agreeing, just that kidney problems might be the one thing (besides jaundice) that would be non-eye-related yet show up in the eye. So...it may be that this person recognized at least that and sent your uncle to the right place finally. Sometimes, the listening and paying attention can be just as useful as the doctoral degree.

Bio

[ChunkyMonkeysMommy]

Sorry, I wasn't necessarily meaning that I agree with what they say, or even for sure that what I said about how they do it is exactly right. I would have thought that if it were for obvious reasons that it showed in his eyes, such as yellowish if it were the liver, then the doctors should have noticed that. All I know is that she saw something and she was right, whatever it was. :) Fluke? Perhaps. I have no idea.

[biowham]

The biology does not support what "iridology" asserts regarding nerves and the eye or the presence of a nerve-based "map" there. That's not accurate anatomy. If your uncle had retinal issues because of his kidney problems, THAT might have shown up and been obvious, but it's not related to nerve endings; it's related to blood pressure. It happens to be one of the few things ya might get to see by peering into someone's eyes, unless the whites are yellow, in which case you'd look to the liver...but then I guess they'd have to call that "conjunctivology."

Bio

[ChunkyMonkeysMommy]

Please excuse my typos/misspellings. It's one of 'those' days, apparently, lol.

[ChunkyMonkeysMommy]

Well, I hate to be the odd man out about this subject, but it appears that I am.

Normally, I wouldn't believe in all of this bologna, either. However, it actually saved my uncle's life, believe it or not. He had been to the doctor repeatedly about some problems that he was having, to no avail. As a last resort, he went to an Amish Iridologist. After all, what could it hurt? From what I understand, all of your organs have a nerve ending in your eye. By looking into the iris, they may see "black spots" in it. The basically have a "map" of what areas of the iris are for particular organs. Anyway, this woman told my uncle that he had a serious kidney problem and that he desperately needed to see a doctor and demand treatment. She didn't try to sell him anything, other than the service of telling him where his problem was. So, he went back to the doctor and demand that they do further testing on his kidneys and, sure enough, he ended up in the hospital having an emergency surgery.

Now, having said all that, this doesn't mean that I believe your husband's "friend" necessarily knows what she's doing. This Amish woman is the only person that I've ever heard of that was reputable in this area. Also, I don't know what they could actually do for MS. I think it's more of an organ-focused practice, as if you have an organ failing or something. But, what do I know? :)

Being the non-trusting person that I can be, I'd say that she just used it as an excuse to talk to your husband. But that's just me, lol. I'm a scorned woman, well, was in the past, anyway. ha!

[nncdalton]

Thank you all for affiriming what I was thinking. I just hope that no one falled for this type of thing.
And it will be fun to tell my husband that what she does is bunk.

HAHA

Christy D

[essdipity]

All kinds of products and gizmos, diets, etc., promise to get rid of "toxins." Even yoga teaches that by our breath we release toxins as we exhale. Somehow I really doubt that we're toxic waste sites.

I know that if one or more bodily processes fails and various substances are not properly eliminated, that can be serious, even fatal, so from that perspective "poisons" can harm us. But where does this idea leave off and the snake oil stuff telling us we're full of toxins take over?

Is anyone ever better off from "cleansing" his/her system using one of the pop fads? Inquiring minds want to know.

ess

PS to Christy: I bet that woman knows you don't like her and that she doesn't like you either. So it may be a bit of a dig for her to approach your husband that way. Give this alll the attention it merits:  None.

[Quixotic1]

To claim that such things manifest in the eye is true snakeoil.  It is as scientific as palm reading, phrenology (reading the bumps on the skull), or examining random chicken entrails.

This is bunk.  And it is often a great hoax making huge amounts of money for the person selling the vitamins and supplements.

Run!

Q

[biowham]

It's a pseudoscience. Run. Away. If you Google "quackwatch" and pseudoscience, you'll turn up a pretty good article on the identifying features of a pseudoscience. One is a claim that it will cure all kinds of unrelated disorders, another is that there is nothing in the way of science to back it up, and another is that they use made-up "sciency" terms, often adding "-ology" to the end of something, to make it sound "real."

Actually, I do a unit on pseudoscience with my students, and this is one that they often bring in when they're asked to bring in examples.

Bio