CARE for a foot massage for your face?

Yes,you heard right.

This is the quirky sales pitch of a Tan Quee Lan Street foot reflexology outlet in Bugis. During the treatment, which costs about $90 for an hour, your feet are stroked, caressed and kneaded, sometimes with various tools.

Your face is untouched, yet somehow, advocates believe it has the effect of a mini-facelift - firming up and seemingly lifting up saggy bits.

One convert is Miss Lee Lay Cheng, 35, an executive producer. She first visited the shop about two months agoona friend's recommendation.

When shop owners S L Guay, 48 and April Seah, 47, told her about the treatment, she was skeptical. But she claimed that during her first "facial" by Madam Seah, she saw immediate effects.

"I saw my eye bags disappear and my cheeks and the skin around my eyes seemed to tighten and go up.

"It was really obvious, because she did only half of my face first to show me the results before doing the other side," said Miss Lee.

Although she has gone for only two such treatments, she feels her skin has retained its firm look.

Mr Guay claimed he learnt these facial techniques 20 years ago from a Singaporean teacher who no longer practises them. He taught Madam Seah this form of foot reflexology about 14 years ago and prefers to concentrate on reflexology for body wellness now.

The couple declined to reveal the number of regular customers they have seen, or how much they make from the business.

Mr Guay would reveal only that their two-person outfit would massage "up to 10 people" a day.

He massaged TV chef Anthony Bourdain's feet in a segment of his travel show,No Reservations. He displays pictures of the star's visit at his shop, and there is also footage posted online.

The only shop

Mr Guay claims it is the only shop in Singapore offering such treatment. The reason?

"It's something that takes a long time to pick up," he said."Most people don't have the patience to learn."

Mr Guay said the "lifting" effect varies with each individual, although for most, he claimed, it can last from three weeks to two months.

The treatment is suitable for most, unless one is undergoing chemotherapy,he said. What goes into the hour-long treatment?

Plenty, as Madam Seah showed The New Paper when we tried the treatment.

Tools such as a piece of cow horn, yellow jade, natural stone, white jade and elephant bone are variously used to massage and stroke the feet.

Mr Guay claimed that just as a foot massage can provide a facelift, it can also be used to manage weight or even "uplift" a woman's bust.

Madam Seah clarified: "Basically the foot reflexology can tighten your waist, your bust, but it can't make your cup size bigger."

Other practitioners The New Paper spoke to had mixed views about such treatments.

Mr George Tay, 69, who has been running Better Health Reflexology and Beauty Therapy in Far East Plaza for 20 years, is skeptical.

"Foot reflexology controls your nerves which affects every part of your body," he said.

"How is it that the treatment only affects the face?" He added that the lifting effect, if any, can only be minimal. It "cannot be like plastic surgery".

Mr Tay said that because of the outlandish claims of certain practitioners, he has even had customers who are "botak" (Malay for without hair), approach him seeking for treatment to help their hair to grow back.

Another practitioner, Mr Lai Kok Heng, 62, with more than 10 years of foot reflexology teaching experience, believes that the effect is possible.

Mr Lai, who owns Hand Foot Reflexology Health Institute International, explained that such a treatment would need to target the liver and the gall bladder, to get rid of toxins.

But, he said in Mandarin: "It will take more than one time to have good effects. Maybe about 10 times before you can really see the benefits."

Mr Lai said he has not heard of any other practitioner doing such treatments. "It's not something anybody can do.

You really have to understand and learn how the body works, before you can claim to do such treatments," he said.

Dr Woffles Wu, a plastic surgeon at Camden Medical Centre, said: "From a logical standpoint, it doesn't seem possible. But I would like to see a demonstration myself before making definite comments."

He added that perhaps the Ministry of Health should investigate, to see if the claims are true. "If they are, they should be given a National Day award, or a Public Service Star," he said.

"But if not, perhaps MOH should ask people to beware of such claims."

shreeann@sph.com.sg

This article was first published in The New Paper.