Dr. Fish Therapy

Early in the 14th century, the Turks got to know how to take advantage of the hot springs to help themselves relieve fatigue and cure diseases. There is a story about the origin of the doctor fish passed from mouth to mouth in Turkey. Once two brothers found a hot spring in the open field, and what shocked them most was the small fish swimming in it. They jumped into the hot spring to take a clearer look. An amazing thing happened. Those fish didn’t swim away but gathered around their feet and began to bite their toes gently. That was an unprecedented and fantastic feeling. From then on, the two brothers went to the hot spring everyday. Amazingly, one of the brothers’ beriberi recovered gradually. The news spread like wildfire. More and more people came to this hot spring, enjoying the unique feeling and curing some of their skin diseases. The world reputation of this hot spring fish is attracting millions of tourists to Turkey.

Doctor fish is the name given to two species of fish: Garra rufa and Cyprinion macrostomus. Other nicknames include nibble fish, or kangal fish; in non-medical contexts, Garra rufa is called the reddish log sucker. 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 treatment option, only as a temporary cure for 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.

After study, experts have found that this kind of fish can help to remove the scurf on human bodies, aspirate the bacteria in pores, improve the absorption of mineral substances, and finally reach the goal of curing some diseases.