Doctor fish
Encyclopedia
Doctor fish is the name given to two species
of fish: Garra rufa and Cyprinion macrostomus
. Other nicknames include nibble fish, kangal fish, physio fish, and doctorfishen; in non-medical contexts, Garra rufa is called the reddish log sucker. They live and breed in the outdoor pools of some Turkish spa
s, where they feed on the skin of patients with psoriasis
. The fish are like combfish
es in that they only consume the affected and dead areas of the skin, leaving the healthy skin to grow, with the outdoor location of the treatment bringing beneficial effects. The spas are not meant as a curative treatment option, only as a temporary alleviation of symptoms, and patients usually revisit the spas every few months.
at home; while not strictly a "beginner's fish", it is quite hardy. For treatment of skin diseases, aquarium specimens are not well suited as the skin-feeding behavior fully manifests only under conditions where the food supply is somewhat scarce and unpredictable.
The misleading information perpetrated by those who utilize Garra rufa in profitable ventures is that the Garra rufa actually eat dead skin but this is not strictly true, the filtration systems of tanks that have been analyzed have been shown to capture the skin.
During their activities of foraging they slough off dead skin. They are simply looking for food which in the wild consists of aufwuchs
. In both marine and freshwater environments the algae – particularly green algae and diatoms – make up the dominant component of aufwuchs communities. Small crustaceans, rotifers, and protozoans are also commonly found in fresh water and the sea, but insect larvae, oligochaetes and tardigrades are peculiar to freshwater aufwuchs faunas.
, Croatia, where the fish are used to clean the bathers at the spa. There are also spas in resorts in China, Belgium, the Netherlands, South Korea, Singapore, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Hungary
, Slovakia, India, Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines
, Hong Kong, Bucharest
and Sibiu
(Romania), Madrid
(Corralejo Fuerteventura Dr Fish) and Barcelona
(Spain), France and Trondheim
(Norway). In 2008, the first widely known doctor fish pedicure
service was opened in the United States in Alexandria, Virginia
, and later in Woodbridge, Virginia
. In 2010 the first U.K. spa opened in Sheffield
. They are used to help treat patients suffering from various skin disorders, including psoriasis
and eczema
, since the fish will eat and remove any dead skin.
, with a few clinics in Montreal
.
Before being outlawed in most U.S. states, the novelty of fish pedicures was viewed as a possible revenue enhancer for struggling nail salons, which had experienced less "luxury spending" from their regular clients during the recession. One New Hampshire
salon owner who was shut down had assured local health authorities that she cleaned out fish tanks between pedicures and would never use the same group of fish with two different customers on the same day. The state government still ruled the practice to be unsanitary.
TV journalist John Stossel
has ridiculed state laws against fish pedicures, arguing that they represent a case of the government becoming a "Nanny State", where individuals no longer can make their own decisions about their well-being. He participated in an "illegal" fish pedicure on his Fox Business Network
program to illustrate his point.
Species
In biology, a species is one of the basic units of biological classification and a taxonomic rank. A species is often defined as a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring. While in many cases this definition is adequate, more precise or differing measures are...
of fish: Garra rufa and Cyprinion macrostomus
Cyprinion macrostomus
Cyprinion macrostomus, also known as the kangal fish, is a cyprinid doctor fish, similar to another species of carp, Garra rufa.-External links:...
. Other nicknames include nibble fish, kangal fish, physio fish, and doctorfishen; in non-medical contexts, Garra rufa is called the reddish log sucker. They live and breed in the outdoor pools of some Turkish spa
Spa
The term spa is associated with water treatment which is also known as balneotherapy. Spa towns or spa resorts typically offer various health treatments. The belief in the curative powers of mineral waters goes back to prehistoric times. Such practices have been popular worldwide, but are...
s, where they feed on the skin of patients with psoriasis
Psoriasis
Psoriasis is an autoimmune disease that appears on the skin. It occurs when the immune system mistakes the skin cells as a pathogen, and sends out faulty signals that speed up the growth cycle of skin cells. Psoriasis is not contagious. However, psoriasis has been linked to an increased risk of...
. The fish are like combfish
Combfish
The combfish or comb wrasse, Coris picta, is a wrasse of the genus Coris, found off eastern Australia and around offshore islands off north eastern New Zealand to depths of between 5 and 55 metres, on mixed sandy/rocky reef areas...
es in that they only consume the affected and dead areas of the skin, leaving the healthy skin to grow, with the outdoor location of the treatment bringing beneficial effects. The spas are not meant as a curative treatment option, only as a temporary alleviation of symptoms, and patients usually revisit the spas every few months.
Occurrence
Garra rufa occurs in the river basins of the Northern and Central Middle East, mainly in Turkey, Syria, Iraq and Iran. It is legally protected from commercial exploitation in Turkey due to concerns of overharvesting for export. Garra rufa can be kept in an aquariumAquarium
An aquarium is a vivarium consisting of at least one transparent side in which water-dwelling plants or animals are kept. Fishkeepers use aquaria to keep fish, invertebrates, amphibians, marine mammals, turtles, and aquatic plants...
at home; while not strictly a "beginner's fish", it is quite hardy. For treatment of skin diseases, aquarium specimens are not well suited as the skin-feeding behavior fully manifests only under conditions where the food supply is somewhat scarce and unpredictable.
The misleading information perpetrated by those who utilize Garra rufa in profitable ventures is that the Garra rufa actually eat dead skin but this is not strictly true, the filtration systems of tanks that have been analyzed have been shown to capture the skin.
During their activities of foraging they slough off dead skin. They are simply looking for food which in the wild consists of aufwuchs
Aufwuchs
Aufwuchs is a term used to cover the small animals and plants that encrust hard substrates, such as rocks, in aquatic environments. The name originated as a German term literally meaning "surface growth" or "overgrowth", and is frequently mis-spelled "awfuchs" or similar due to the unusual "-ufw-"...
. In both marine and freshwater environments the algae – particularly green algae and diatoms – make up the dominant component of aufwuchs communities. Small crustaceans, rotifers, and protozoans are also commonly found in fresh water and the sea, but insect larvae, oligochaetes and tardigrades are peculiar to freshwater aufwuchs faunas.
Spa resorts
In 2006, doctor fish spa resorts opened in Hakone, Japan, and in UmagUmag
Umag is a coastal city in Istria, Croatia.The city hosts the yearly Croatia Open ATP tennis tournament on clay courts.-Geography:It is the westernmost city of Croatia, and the municipality includes Savudrija which is westernmost point of Croatia....
, Croatia, where the fish are used to clean the bathers at the spa. There are also spas in resorts in China, Belgium, the Netherlands, South Korea, Singapore, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Hungary
Hungary
Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...
, Slovakia, India, Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines
Philippines
The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...
, Hong Kong, Bucharest
Bucharest
Bucharest is the capital municipality, cultural, industrial, and financial centre of Romania. It is the largest city in Romania, located in the southeast of the country, at , and lies on the banks of the Dâmbovița River....
and Sibiu
Sibiu
Sibiu is a city in Transylvania, Romania with a population of 154,548. Located some 282 km north-west of Bucharest, the city straddles the Cibin River, a tributary of the river Olt...
(Romania), Madrid
Madrid
Madrid is the capital and largest city of Spain. The population of the city is roughly 3.3 million and the entire population of the Madrid metropolitan area is calculated to be 6.271 million. It is the third largest city in the European Union, after London and Berlin, and its metropolitan...
(Corralejo Fuerteventura Dr Fish) and Barcelona
Barcelona
Barcelona is the second largest city in Spain after Madrid, and the capital of Catalonia, with a population of 1,621,537 within its administrative limits on a land area of...
(Spain), France and Trondheim
Trondheim
Trondheim , historically, Nidaros and Trondhjem, is a city and municipality in Sør-Trøndelag county, Norway. With a population of 173,486, it is the third most populous municipality and city in the country, although the fourth largest metropolitan area. It is the administrative centre of...
(Norway). In 2008, the first widely known doctor fish pedicure
Pedicure
A pedicure is a way to improve the appearance of the feet and the nails. It provides a similar service to a manicure. The word pedicure refers to superficial cosmetic treatment of the feet and toenails...
service was opened in the United States in Alexandria, Virginia
Alexandria, Virginia
Alexandria is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia. As of 2009, the city had a total population of 139,966. Located along the Western bank of the Potomac River, Alexandria is approximately six miles south of downtown Washington, D.C.Like the rest of northern Virginia, as well as...
, and later in Woodbridge, Virginia
Woodbridge, Virginia
-Demographics:As of the census of 2000, there were 31,941 people, 10,687 households, and 7,769 families residing in the CDP. The population density was 3,047.8 people per square mile . There were 11,026 housing units at an average density of 1,052.1/sq mi...
. In 2010 the first U.K. spa opened in Sheffield
Sheffield
Sheffield is a city and metropolitan borough of South Yorkshire, England. Its name derives from the River Sheaf, which runs through the city. Historically a part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, and with some of its southern suburbs annexed from Derbyshire, the city has grown from its largely...
. They are used to help treat patients suffering from various skin disorders, including psoriasis
Psoriasis
Psoriasis is an autoimmune disease that appears on the skin. It occurs when the immune system mistakes the skin cells as a pathogen, and sends out faulty signals that speed up the growth cycle of skin cells. Psoriasis is not contagious. However, psoriasis has been linked to an increased risk of...
and eczema
Eczema
Eczema is a form of dermatitis, or inflammation of the epidermis . In England, an estimated 5.7 million or about one in every nine people have been diagnosed with the disease by a clinician at some point in their lives.The term eczema is broadly applied to a range of persistent skin conditions...
, since the fish will eat and remove any dead skin.
Legal status
The practice is banned in several of the United States and Canadian provinces as cosmetology regulators believe the practice is unsanitary, with the Wall Street Journal claiming that "cosmetology regulations generally mandate that tools need to be discarded or sanitized after each use. But epidermis-eating fish are too expensive to throw away". The procedure is legal in QuebecQuebec
Quebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....
, with a few clinics in Montreal
Montreal
Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...
.
Before being outlawed in most U.S. states, the novelty of fish pedicures was viewed as a possible revenue enhancer for struggling nail salons, which had experienced less "luxury spending" from their regular clients during the recession. One New Hampshire
New Hampshire
New Hampshire is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. The state was named after the southern English county of Hampshire. It is bordered by Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Atlantic Ocean to the east, and the Canadian...
salon owner who was shut down had assured local health authorities that she cleaned out fish tanks between pedicures and would never use the same group of fish with two different customers on the same day. The state government still ruled the practice to be unsanitary.
TV journalist John Stossel
John Stossel
John F. Stossel is an American consumer reporter, investigative journalist, author and libertarian columnist. In October 2009 Stossel left his long time home on ABC News to join the Fox Business Channel and Fox News Channel, both owned and operated by News Corp...
has ridiculed state laws against fish pedicures, arguing that they represent a case of the government becoming a "Nanny State", where individuals no longer can make their own decisions about their well-being. He participated in an "illegal" fish pedicure on his Fox Business Network
Fox Business Network
Fox Business Network is an American cable news and satellite news television channel that began broadcasting on October 15, 2007. It is owned by the Fox Entertainment Group, part of Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation...
program to illustrate his point.