By now we’ve all heard about this new craze; people pay considerable amounts of money to have dead skin nibbled off their feet by schools of tiny fish. It’s a natural beauty/spa procedure which is in keeping with the modern ideologies of absolute comfort and holistic bodily wellness.
The first major ‘doctor fish’ clinic opened in 2008 in Virginia, USA. Since then the trend has accelerated across the globe and become one of the most important new beauty treatments in quite some time; you cannot go out into most city centres these days without being accosted by someone in a fish suit, brandishing a fish pedicure sign at you.
However, despite the popularity of fish pedicures, and also the underlying question of whether or not they actually do that much for you, other than remove the dead skin (many have claimed that their feet feel essentially unchanged after the treatment, although it is not an unpleasant process), the latest issue many ‘experts’ raise is related to actual healthcare in quite a serious way.
Although admittedly scientists consider the risk to be quite low, those who suffer from weaker immune systems or diabetes, or even other potentially risky health conditions, are advised to stay away from the treatment. This is due to the potential for the spread of HIV or hepatitis C. Disease could theoretically be spread by the fish or by water from customer to customer. However, naturally the clinics deny such possibilities, and so the decision still falls firmly on you as a prospective customer.