Doctor Fish, Spa Fish

Recently i found the fish spa - Kenko at mid valley. At first, I wonder how this tiny fish can provide therapy to human. Then, I read from the star newspaper about the fishy therapy, interesting... so i do some google search on this.

Doctor fish also know as garra rufa, hotspring fish or kangal fish is a species of freshwater fish which breeds in the river basins of the Northern and Central Middle East, mainly in Turkey, Syria, Iraq and Iran. It is called the doctor fish, because of the role it plays in healing persons affected with psoriasis. Garra rufa is often called the nibble fish, kangal fish, and doctorfishen. In non-medical terms the fish is also called reddish log sucker.Majority of Turkish spas breed the doctor fish in an outdoor pool, where they feed on an unusual diet- the skin of psoriasis affected patients. Just like the combfish, the doctor fish devours the affected and dead areas of the skin, while leaving the healthy skin to grow.

Though, the spas are not meant to be a treatment center, patients come here regularly for temporary cure of the symptoms. Inspite of the unpredictable nature of the disease, some patients have experienced complete cure as a result of their repeated exposure to the doctor fish.

What a shock, when i found some forum comments "What if customers are HIV+?" "Is fish spa safe?" Contracting HIV is totally nonsense . If you think that you can contract HIV through this, then do mankind a favour : read up on HIV and AIDS.

I actually even more curious as a new fish spa in town, some fish Spa which offers full body treatments by these Doctor Fish claimed that there were some people trying to pass off fake Garra Rufa fish (Chin Chin fish) for real things!

The Garra Rufa is actually a slender little fish with a mouth like a bottom feeder fish. These fish actually come from Turkey and are said to be able to live in warm water of up to 35 degrees. Apparently these little fish actually nibbles on the dead skin and has some compounds in its saliva which actually help skin problems such as eczema and psoriasis.The fake Garra Rufa or Chin Chin Yu, on the other hand is wide and is said to belong to the tilapia or carp family. These fish are apparently starved so when you put your foot into the water, it’s food to them and so naturally they start nibbling on whatever dead and flakey skin you have. This then gives the illusion of smooth skin once you’re done with the treatment but it doesn’t have any real benefits.