Doctor fish also known as spa fish is the name given to two species of fish, Cyprinion macrostomus and Garra rufa. Other nicknames include nibble fish, kangal fish or little dermatologists, Garra rufa is called the reddish log sucker. I have my first fish spa in Manila Ocean Park. You just rest your feet in the water where these doctor fishes swim. Then they will feast on your feet, eating those dead skin. It will be tingling but you will enjoy and will be amaze on this kind of spa. They live and breed in the outdoor pools of some Turkish spas, where they feed on the skin of patients with psoriasis. The fish are like combfishes 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. Some patients have experienced complete cure of psoriasis after repeated treatments, but due to the unpredictable nature of the disease, which is strongly influenced by endogenous factors, this may simply be regression towards the mean.
