The Times Body&Soul - Spa Smrdaky, Slovakia, Spa holidays, Wellbeing Escapes

Pre Spa

We want you to get the most out of Wellbeing Escapes luxury spa holidays and come back glowing, healthy and happy. To take the stress out of booking and preparing for your spa holidays, we have put together some handy tips to help with the process.

Post Spa

So you've come back from your spa holiday sparkling with good health and determined to keep that feel-good glow. The pressure of a busy life makes it difficult to sustain the lifestyle, routine and diet you had on your escape. But don't worry, we have plenty of advice to help you post spa holiday.

Experts

Introducing the experts

Meet our panel of Wellbeing Experts. Including a renowned nutritionist, an acupuncturist, and some highly respected entrepreneurs, our team of leading experts is on hand with their advice. Throughout the seasons they'll be bringing you the latest health, fitness and beauty tips to keep you looking and feeling brilliant from top to toe.

Trends

Wellbeing Escapes work with some of the world's best luxury spa and wellness resorts. We understand what kind of spa holidays our clients want because we speak to them everyday. Our finger is on the pulse of the spa and wellness industry putting us in the perfect place to bring you exciting new trends and key developments.

For Advice, Guidance and Booking call us on 0845 602 6202 or click here to email

The Times Body&Soul - Spa Smrdaky, Slovakia

03 May 2008

Spa trips for eczema and psoriasis sufferers

Serena Mackesy discovers a ray of hope for a psoriasis cure in Slovakia

The spa: Smrdáky, near Senica, western Slovakia.

The mission: To see if some intensive psoriasis treatment could treat this demoralising skin condition.

USP: A hospital, not a resort.

Ambience: Although it's not glamorous, the rooms are private, comfortable and the staff are terrific. However, entertainment is in short supply and English-speaking TV is limited to CNN. The spacious grounds are a delight, once your nose adjusts to a rotten-egg aroma. Smrdáky, by the way, translates into English as “stinky”.

Quality of experience: Amazing. After spending six weeks in my late teens in the skin disorders unit of an NHS hospital, with a 40 per cent improvement, I was astonished at the Smrdáky results. The spa recommends a stay of three-plus weeks, but I improved by 80 per cent in ten days.

It takes some adjustment, though, as treatments are taken naked in a communal (gender-segregated but with mixed staff) spa centre. Treatments include familiar applications: tars, salicylic acid creams, moisturisers and daily baths (strictly timed) in the hydrogen-sulphide-rich waters.

But the most important element is the combination of UV lamps in the winter and summer sunbathing. The reason so many NHS-prescribed treatments don't work, apparently, is that they're not combined with UV, which is the psoriatic's magic bullet, and the waters encourage this healing process. Months later, my skin is still much improved.

Products: The spa doesn't use anything you can buy, and the waters deteriorate in storage.

In-crowd: Psoriatics, mainly from Central and Eastern Europe, many on health insurance.

Food: Bland (spicy foods inflame psoriasis) but plentiful. All meals are done and dusted by 6.30pm, which can leave the evenings hanging heavy.

Wallet watch: A ten-night Intensive Spa Package (including flights, two medical examinations, up to five daily treatments as prescribed, plus all meals) at the Hotel Centrál starts from £599, with Well-being Escapes; the same package at the three-star Hotel Morava, from £649.

Need to know: Contact Wellbeing Escapes on 0845 6026202, www.wellbeingescapes.co.uk