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Despite Its Lack Of Evidence, Iridology Has Survived On The Medical Fringe For Over A Century

December 23rd, 2011 by Steve Novella, M.D. in Quackery Exposed

Tags: Anatomy, Cancer Diagnosis, Diagnosis, Discoloration, Eye, Falsified, Fiction, Homonculus, Ignatz Peczely, iridology, Marks, Naturopathy, Physiology, Pseudoscience, rationalization, Science and Medicine, Supplementation, Validity, Verified

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 homonculus 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: Read more »

*This blog post was originally published at Science-Based Medicine*

Modern Snake Oil: Physician Touts Baseless Cures For Rheumatoid Arthritis

December 11th, 2011 by admin in Health Tips, Quackery Exposed

Tags: Alternative Medicine, Arthritis, Diet, Evidence Based Medicine, Mercola, Pomegranate, Rheumatoid Arthritis, Rheumatology, Snake Oil

There’s an old saying in medicine: “Use the new medicine while it still works.” This is more than just a cute quip. The saying encompasses a few different phenomena. When a drug is tested on a few thousand people, the luck of the draw may show a greater effect than would be seen in a larger, more diverse population. Also, less common side effects will become more evident in a larger sample. Once several million people take the drug, it may turn out that the drug isn’t as spectacular in a large, diverse population, and that certain side effects, though rare, are serious.

This is one of the reasons I’m a very conservative and skeptical physician. Today’s miracle drug may be tomorrow’s Vioxx. Less conservative doctors may make much more enthusiastic recommendations. I found one physician promoting pomegranate juice for rheumatoid arthritis (or at least linking to the article on Joe Mercola’s site without comment). It sounds harmless enough, but what’s the evidence? (You can hunt for the page yourself; I’m not linking to Mercola.)

The statement is based on a pilot study out of Israel consisting of data from six patients. The measures used seem quirky, but are irrelevant anyway. There are no conclusions that can be drawn from such a small sample. Despite this, the authors conclude (and Mercola and the doctor who posted the link presumably endorse) that, “Dietary supplementation with pomegranates may be a useful complementary strategy to attenuate clinical symptoms in RA patients.”

Really? Based on what? Read more »

*This blog post was originally published at ACP Internist*

Should Children Receive Medical Treatments That Have No Evidence Of Efficacy?

December 8th, 2011 by admin in Health Policy, Opinion, Quackery Exposed

Tags: Acupuncture, Chiropractic, Homeopathy, Legal, Medical Ethics, Pediatrics, Vaccines

In November, the journal Pediatrics published an entire supplement devoted to Pediatric Use of Complementary and Alternative Medicine: Legal, Ethical and Clinical Issues in Decision-Making. The authors purport to have “examined current legal, ethical, and clinical issues that arise when considering CAM use for children and identified where gaps remain in law and policy.” (S150) Their aim is to “illustrate the relevance and impact of identified [ethical, legal and clinical] guidelines and principles,” to recommend responses, identify issues needing further consideration, and thus “assist decision makers and act as a catalyst for policy development.” (S153)

Unfortunately, as we saw in Pediatrics & “CAM” I: the wrong solution, the authors’ solution for the “issues that arise when considering CAM use for children” consist, in the main, of placing a huge burden on the practicing physician to be knowledgeable about CAM, keep up with CAM research, educate patients about CAM, warn patients about CAM dangers, refer to CAM practitioners, ensure that CAM practitioners are properly educated, trained and credentialed, and so on.

Limit CAM? Not happening

Curiously absent are recommendations placing responsibility on those who profit from the sale of CAM products Read more »

*This blog post was originally published at Science-Based Medicine*

Pox Parties: Half-Truths, Anecdotes, And Fear

December 5th, 2011 by ErikDavis in Opinion, Quackery Exposed, Research

Tags: Alternative Medicine, Andrew Wakefield, Autism, Chicken Pox, Chickenpox, Measles, Parents, Pediatrics, Pox Parties, Pseudoscience, Rubella, Skepticism, Statistics, Vaccines

Source

There has been much abuzz about “pox parties” – the practice of parents getting a bunch of unvaccinated kids together with an infected one (pick one, really, though chicken pox is the focus of the recent article in Time) in the hope that their little sweethearts become ill and therefore “naturally” immune to the disease. This deliberate infection involves things as seemingly innocent as breathing the same air as the infected to the stomach-turning sharing of bodily fluids (Saliva lemonade, anyone?). To compound the issue, it seems that parents aren’t always taking into account how the viruses are transmitted, and end up trying oral transmission to  transmit a disease that is transmitted through the air. And yes, the whole thing is as stupid as it seems.

Given that the people partaking in these events have likely not vaccinated their children against anything else, these parties could be a source point for multiple highly contagious infections. Most of us have had chicken pox as children and don’t remember it fondly – now imagine having chicken pox with mumps, mono, and maybe a little hepatitis A to top it off. It is also easy to forget in Western luxury that these innocuous childhood illnesses are actually lethal. Just measles? Well, one death per 3000 measles infections might not seem like much, until you consider the fact that in 2008, 164,000 people died of the measles worldwide – approximately the same number of civilians that have died in the entire length of the current Iraq war. That’s an annual number, and it’s gone down by almost 80% over 10 years. How? Read more »

*This blog post was originally published at Skeptic North*

Another Fake Plastic Surgeon Victim Surfaces

December 4th, 2011 by John Di Saia, M.D. in News, Quackery Exposed, True Stories

Tags: Bad Plastic Surgery, Charlatan, Lumps, Oneal Ron Morris, Plastic Surgery, Transexual, Victim

We posted previously on Oneal Ron Morris, a transsexual charlatan who has been injecting clients with his own home brew of filler agents resulting in disastrous consequences. A victim of his facial services has surfaced:

Rajee Narinesingh apparently met Oneal Ron Morris via referral in the transsexual community. She Read more »

*This blog post was originally published at Truth in Cosmetic Surgery*