For and against the Iris Diagnostics: The Ophthalmologist's Opinion

Introduction: The iridologists use iris diagrams, dividing the iris of the eye into 12 hours. Bulgaria also has a tradition of studying the iris, for example Peter Dimkov and his work "Ocular Diagnosis. A Practical Guide". However, according to most reputable international publications, "Iridology is not supported by any published studies and is considered a pseudoscience to most physicians."

Aim: To study the awareness of the population and the opinion of medical specialists on the issue of iris diagnostics in Bulgaria.

Materials and Methods: It’s a survey design, conducted at Eye Clinic “St. Nikolay”, over a period of 3 months: May - July 2023.

Results: A total of 300 participants were surveyed, including 123 medical professionals. The female respondents are more - 81.5%, about 90% are active population aged 20-60 years. Most respondents - 68.1% don’t know where such examinations are performed. The majority don‘t even know by who they are done: respectively 41.6% think they are done by eye doctors, and 24.2% they have no opinion. Almost 77.9% of respondents don’t know any specialists in iris diagnostics, but 57.2% would do such a consultation and would even pay not small amount of money for it – 50BGN. Nearly 42.3% of the respondents would trust the method. Until the time of the survey only 13% have already had such a consultation.

Conclusion: The eye is a window to our health. Although iridology has its appeal, evidence-based medicine doesn‘t support the use of iridology in practice. The iris diagnostics is simply a way of possibly identifying a possible health problem.