Posted on: July 26, 2007
The Eyes Have It
What the heck is wrong with you now? The holistic practice of iridology looks deep to answer just that
By Lisa Arnett
CTW Features
There’s nothing like hitting a brick wall over and over that will make you consider going through a door you’d never deign to enter. But that’s just what all-American guy Harvey Vedder did when his wife couldn’t find relief for pelvic problems.
Vedder, a Western-minded data communications engineer, was always “very leery of anything out there in that tacky holistic world,” he says. But when he heard of iridology, a practice in which a look into your eyes can provide insights into your health, they were ready to give it a try.
“Within the first 60 seconds, the iridologist put her finger on what no one in the medical profession had been able to do for 15 years,” Vedder says. “They looked in the eye and said, ‘Did you know you may have a prolapsed transverse colon, which is probably impinging upon your bladder and uterus?’ ”
The Vedders were shocked.
“Later X-rays showed clearly that it was an extremely prolapsed colon,” he says. “The medical world had looked at it, and it’s so common that they treat it as typical or normal instead of just common.”
And that’s the story of a true convert: Vedder and his wife Judy now run the New York Center for Iridology. Like acupuncture, herbal therapies and other forms of alternative medicine, iridology is not recognized by the mainstream medical community. Body & More chatted with three notable iridologists from around the country to cut through the hype surrounding this relatively unknown field.
Back it up – with facts, please
Iridology literally means the science of studying the iris. If you’ve ever seen a reflexology chart, those funky maps of your foot that show every part of your body represented in a different region, it’s quite similar to an iridology chart, which is an iridologist’s primary tool in assessing your eyes. Instead, different parts of the eye correspond to different parts of the body. For example, “everyone’s heart shows up at 3 o’clock in the left eye,” Vedder says. “Everyone’s liver shows up a little before 8 [o’clock] in the right eye.”
Unlike reflexology or acupuncture, which requires treatment, iridology primarily is a research tool to assess the body’s state, including genetic predispositions and systemic problems.
“Eighty percent of what an iridologist sees in your eyes are your genetic tendencies – weaknesses and strengths,” says Marion Jones, a practicing iridologist of more than 30 years who currently works at Abundant Health & Wellness Center in Kingwood, Texas. “We see underactive and overactive areas in the body.”
Adds Vedder: “[Your eye] shows every organ, every system that has nerve sensitivity. It won’t show a stainless steel splint in your leg, but it will show the effect of that in the nerves of the surrounding region, which get reported back in the eye.”
While in mainstream medicine, most disease is diagnosed in its chronic or degenerative stages, Vedder asserts that nerve reflexes in the eyes can reveal tissue degeneration in its much earlier stages before more overt symptoms send you to the doctor’s office to report what’s wrong.
Inside the iridologist’s office
Iridologists use a stereomicroscope (or a hand microscope and small flashlight) to observe up close the markings and patterns in your iris, the colored part of your eye. Iridologists believe nerve activity from every part of the body is “self-reported,” says Vedder, and over time, is recorded in the fibers of the iris.
Often, to establish credibility, the practitioner will read your eyes first before asking about any health problems or your reason for coming in, says Dave Carpenter, president of the International Irididology Practitioner’s Association.
“I don’t want to have any biases or preconceived notions, so what I’ll do is look at the patient’s eyes … and then we start going over [what I see],” Carpenter says. “And their eyes usually get bigger and bigger, and they’ll say, I haven’t told you anything about myself yet, how did you know all this?”
It kind of sounds like getting your tarot cards read, only that’s not quite a fair analogy.
“The last thing I want them to do is think I’m some magic medicine man,” Carpenter says. “But it’s so different than what we’re used to in [mainstream] medicine, because usually you go to the doctor, and if you can’t tell him why you’re there, he can’t help you. So when you show [a patient] the genetic weaknesses that are showing up in the eye that they’re starting to have problems with, they go, ‘Wow! Amazing!’ ” he says. “So it’s a validation to me of the science of iridology, but I think it’s a validation to the patient as well.”
What the iridologist sees in your eyes will drive their discussion with you about your health. For example, if an area of the iris looks extremely white, says Jones, that can indicate overactivity or inflammation in the corresponding part of the body.
“If the [area of the iris corresponding to the] pancreas is showing a lot of white, we will ask about sugar swings and question the amount of sugar, bread and simple carbohydrates the person is eating. Basically, the iris shows us which questions to ask the client.”
Sessions can range from $50 for a 30-minute session to $150 and up for a session of an hour or more; price varies by location.
But where’d it come from?
The early history of iridology is somewhat hazy. Though iridology charts have been traced to different continents over the past several hundred years, Carpenter says, the most commonly referenced early pioneer is Hungarian Ignatz von Peczely, who in the 19th century observed iris changes in an injured owl, then later applied the observation as a doctor. In North America, the practice became more well known when iridologist Bernard Jensen published iridology charts in the 1970s.
“The truth is, I don’t think any of us really know [how it came to be],” Carpenter says. “The most common popular theory is that it was observation of changes taking place as limbs were broken, or as somebody got a sword stab or an injury, and there were certain changes reflected in the eye. I think it was a curiosity thing. I think man has always felt like the eyes were the window to the soul, and we always look at eyes; I think that’s always been the case since the caveman.”
While alternative medicine still faces tremendous resistance in mainstream medical community, in other countries iridology is more commonly practiced, researched and accepted. In Russia, you must be an M.D. to practice iridology, Vedder says, and in countries such as Japan and China, doctors often train both in Western medical models in addition to traditional Eastern methods, such as acupuncture, massage and herbs.
“We’re not as open and accepting of some of these older more holistic practices,” Carpenter says. “I personally know medical doctors in other countries – Italy, France, the U.K., certainly Russia – who also are extremely competent iridologists, [which] enables them to assess more quickly where they need to spend their time and energy, which tests to run and also perhaps understand better why the patient is not responding to treatment.”
It’s for this same reason, iridologists say, that the few medical studies that have been done on iridology have not been able to prove its effectiveness.
“Holistic models don’t necessarily fit into a disease model like Western medicine, says Carpenter says. “[It’s not like] like an X-ray machine or a cat scan; iridology is showing us a lot of other information.”
A 1988 study published in the British Medical Journal, for example, asked iridologists to identify which photos of irises correspond to patients with gallstones; however, iridology isn’t meant to act like an X-ray, giving a 100-percent confirmation of one specific ailment. Rather, it’s meant to give insight into genetic weaknesses and systemic problems so you can pay more attention to them and prevent more serious problems in the future, says Carpenter.
“Once [the mainstream medical community] understands what it can and can’t do,” he says, “then we can start putting together better studies and start getting more validation of it.”
Carpenter, with the IIPA, currently is working with the Canadian government on a study about using iridology in the prevention of breast cancer.
“If we can say, these are the markers that show up in a woman at age 25 that will predict – if she continues to do what she’s doing – that she will end up with breast cancer at 50, then we could tell those women, look, make these changes so that you don’t end up with breast cancer,” he says. “That would be invaluable.”
See for yourself
As for the constant opposition by the mainstream medical community, most iridologists continue to focus their energy on their work and furthering research in the field.
“I guess 30 years ago, when I first started, this bothered me,” Jones says. “But now after all these years and working with tens of thousands of individuals from all over the world, I believe that those who criticize the most have never even studied iridology … or other alternative health modalities.
“When you have clients who have had a chronic disabling problem for years and the medical establishment has not been able to help them, come in and give you a big hug and say thank you because they are now living a fulfilling life, you know you are doing what is good and right.”
So as with many forms of alternative medicine, perhaps truth in iridology is to see for yourself.
