Fish Pedicure: a feet treat

You might feel like a fish out of the water for not having come across the latest craze in beautifying treatment: It's not salt scrubs, rubs or foot files, but something far more efficient: the toothless mouths of hundreds of tiny, voraciously feeding fish.

'Doctor fish' - so named for their ability to produce healthy, glowing results from even the most crusty or diseased epidermis - are the key ingredient in skin treatment becoming increasingly popular across Japan, China, Turkey and Europe. And now it's in Malta, at an open air fish spa based in St. George's bay.

The idea is that you immerse your feet, in a warm aquarium that swarms with hundreds of hungry minnow-sized feeders. These are the Gaffa Rufa fish which originate from Turkey.

The fish zoom in on your most crusty, flaky or scabby skin and chomp away at it to reveal the fresh layer beneath. It might sound fishy, but you emerge with feet refreshed, healthy, buffed and glowing.

"Garra Ruga fish gently suck the dead skin off from the upper layer of the body. During the removal of the dead skin, the fish produce an enzyme that has a vitalizing effect on the new skin," said Silvia Ferrer from Girona, Spain, who opened the first fish spa in Malta last March.

Do the fish actually bite? "Oh no, they are toothless," said Ms Ferrer, adding that she doesn't need to feed the fish because the dead skin is their fodder.

People who were trying it out attested that whole experience is quite ticklish but after fifteen minutes their skin felt softer than before, and they were all ready to go round fishing for compliments.