What Are Garra Rufa?
Garra Rufa are small tropical fish that live in the river basins of Turkey, Syria, Iran and Iraq. They live and breed naturally in the hot water spas of Turkey and it was here that their amazing skin-treatment properties were discovered.
What Do They Do?
Garra Rufa are like combfishes. They consume affected and dead areas of the skin, leaving the remaining healthy skin to flourish. They gently nibble at your feet and hands, removing all rough patches and providing a deep cleansing treatment. Your skin afterwards will feel revitalised and softened. Garra Rufa are known as "Doctor Fish" because with regular treatment they can greatly improve skin conditions such as psoriasis and eczema.
A massage after your Garra Rufa treatment complements the deep cleansing of the fish with the stimulation of blood circulation and acupressure points.
What About Fish Welfare?
The well-being of our fish is our top priority. Our staff are fully trained by OATA (Ornamental Aquatics Trade Association) in Water Quality and Water Filtration for tropical fish. We use the minimum of Garra Rufa per treatment to ensure they are never overcrowded. The fish are rotated on a regular basis so that all fish rest for 24 hours after every treatment session. Our tanks are cleaned and monitored meticulously to ensure the Garra Rufa live in optimum conditions.
All customers will have their feet washed beforehand to ensure there is no excess of products such as moisturiser or nail varnish remover that could potentially harm the fish.
We only purchase Garra Rufa from a local, OATA registered breeder.
We are one of the few spas in the UK that applies such attention to our fish welfare .
What About Hygiene?
Each client is given a freshly sterilised container for their treatment. The fish that are used for this treatment are then not used again for 24 hours to ensure no contamination can take place between customers. We do NOT allow customers to share tanks or use the same fish on more than one person per day.
Customers who have verrucas will not be permitted to use the Garra Rufa pedicure treatment.