COMPLEMENTARY and alternative medicine is increasingly popular because people want more choice in healthcare, longer consultations, and a more holistic approach, says a new report.
And a Newport therapist believes the trend will continue because conventional medicine cannot provide all the answers.
One-in-four people in the United Kingdom have used complementary or alternative medicine (CAM), with 80 per cent of users satisfied, compared with a 60 per cent satisfaction rate for conventional medicine.
A report in the British Psychological Society journal The Psychologist says CAM users tend to be more health conscious than non-users.
Peter Georgiou, a Newport-based hairdresser, runs Wales' only clinic of dermo-trichology, specialising in scalp skin and hair loss disorders. He says he sees people who have used GP-prescribed medicines for years, with little or no effect.
"People have believed for many years that doctors know best. In some fields, especially skin, conventional treatments do not work for many people," he said.
"Ninety-nine per cent of people who come to my clinic have been to their GP first and come here as a last resort.
"A lot of people have put up with very bad scalp problems and the like for years and when they come here they are in despair.
"I don't believe conventional medicine can provide all the answers. That's why more people are turning to complementary and alternative medicine for all kinds of health problems."
Kathleen Turner, from Blackwood, has put up with a sore and flaky scalp for 30 years, and says she has only begun to find relief since turning to complementary therapy. She went to Mr Georgiou after years of conventional treatments had failed and with the help of a cream called Derma Nova, feels she is now on the right track.
"I'm not out of the woods yet. The treatment will take a long time but I don't care because it's made such a difference," she said.
"I was embarrassed to go out, my scalp was such a state and people were staring all the time.
"You believe what doctors tell you and put your faith in over-the-counter products, but they did nothing for me and this does."
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