It's Lent...Go For the Fish

You've heard about a lot of exotic healing methods and strange religious rites, I'm sure: my daughter will put hot stones on your back as part of her massage therapy gig. Remember the use of leeches in the Middle Ages? It has returned in some places to heal lacerated areas without using stitches (I'll stick with Superglue, if you don't mind). Now, the Midwest is discovering the garra rufa fish as a sort of "medical treatment" for our feet. In fact, a store named Doctor Fish Magnifique located in a mall in Wauwatosa, Wisconsin, has been doing a booming business since it opened last week. If you happen to be uninitiated to the benefits of this critter, let me enlighten you.
The use of this particular fish to exfoliate dead skin (sorry, there's no easy way to say this) began in Turkey as a remedy for psoriasis and eczema. Initial experiments with tilapia (yes, the fish you can buy at the store to eat!) seem to give way to the garra rufa, also known as the "doctor fish." This is due to the fact that tilapia merely chewed the dry skin off while the doctor fish actually had a chemical in its saliva which healed certain skin diseses like the ones I mentioned. Now that treatment is available right here in the Upper Midwest!
For $35, owner Gerald Williamson will allow you to dangle your feet in a pool of fish for 15 minutes. The fish will, in turn, nibble at the skin, removing the dry, flaky, icky stuff and supposedly leaving your feet in fine shape. Of course, there is some indecision about whether all of this is legal since establishments giving pedicures and other such reatments are required to sanitize the equipment after each use. Sanitizing a fish has turned out to be, uh, difficult. Williamson claims that this is NOT a pedicure; hence, no sanitizing is necessary.
I know you are breathless with curiosity so I have included the URL to a blog which illustrates a visit to such a place, complete with photos.
Lent without fish? Inconceivable...but then, we're usually eating them not vice versa.

http://yengyee.blogspot.com/2008/05/garra-rufa-fish-therapy.html