Claims | Patterns, colors, and other characteristics of the iris hold information about a patient's systemic health. |
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Related scientific disciplines | Medicine |
Original proponents | Philippus Meyeus |
(Overview of pseudoscientific concepts) |
Part of a series on |
Alternative medicine |
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Iridology (also known as iridodiagnosis[1] or iridiagnosis[2]) is an alternative medicine technique whose proponents claim that patterns, colors, and other characteristics of the iris can be examined to determine information about a patient's systemic health. Practitioners match their observations to iris charts, which divide the iris into zones that correspond to specific parts of the human body. Iridologists see the eyes as "windows" into the body's state of health.
Iridologists claim they can use the charts to distinguish between healthy systems and organs in the body and those that are overactive, inflamed, or distressed. Iridologists claim this information demonstrates a patient's susceptibility towards certain illnesses, reflects past medical problems, or predicts later health problems.
As opposed to evidence-based medicine, iridology is not supported by quality research studies[3] and is considered pseudoscience.[4] The features of the iris are one of the most stable features on the human body throughout life.[5][disputed – discuss] The stability of iris structures is the foundation of the biometric technology which uses iris recognition for identification purposes.[6][7]
Ernst
was invoked but never defined (see the help page).