In this video, Mikhail Varshavski, DO -- who goes by "Dr. Mike" on social media -- reacts to alternative medical practices from different cultures.
Following is a partial transcript of the video (note that errors are possible):
Varshavski: Let's visit countries across the globe to see some of their unique and some amazing medical technologies. Let's get started! Whoop!
Narrator: Dao liao, or knife therapy, started 2,500 years ago in Ancient China ...
Varshavski: Knife therapy?!
Narrator: ... as an alternative method to traditional medicine.
Varshavski: What?! No way! Are they chopping people up? No! Not literally?
[Woman speaking]
Varshavski: It's just a massage with knives? Oh, that's okay.
Narrator: Angelina Xiao has been practicing and teaching knife therapy for 14 years.
Varshavski: Like knife therapist or secret assassin?
[Woman speaking]
Varshavski: System of oxygen flow. I mean, putting any kind of pressure in that kind of rapid succession, almost like percussive therapy you do with a Theragun, will increase a little bit of circulation, superficially at least, and that will increase oxygen delivery to the cells. But you don't need a knife to do that.
Narrator: It is a customary practice to hover the knives over burning sandalwood and store them next to meteorites to maintain the knives' ...
Varshavski: Sorry! The meteorites thing got me! Everything else ... I'm like, all right, they warm up the knife, it's dull, so it's a little safer, like I'm with it, and then they hit me with the meteorite. I just, I couldn't ... the meteorite, man. And look, I don't mean to laugh; people have culture. Like I'm just looking at this strictly from a medical lens. Will the meteorite change anything in the knife? I can't ... especially when you're doing it through a blanket.
I mean, I don't know, man. This must have some kind of cultural significance that I'm missing, but, medically, I'm, the meteorite thing got me.
Schmidt: Yeah, my name is Justin Schmidt.
Narrator: He's an entomologist.
Varshavski: Does that mean he studies bugs?
Narrator: He's been stung by a lot of insects.
Varshavski: That's such an uncomfortable sensation. The fact that he's cool with it? I mean, I don't know that he's cool with it.
Narrator: He reviews insect stings the way a sommelier reviews wine.
Schmidt: Pure, intense, brilliant pain, like walking over flaming charcoal with a 3-inch nail.
Varshavski: Who's the audience for this book?! If I was dating someone and I walked into their home and they had that book on their counter, I'd be concerned. Just saying.
Schmidt: The Schmidt Pain Scale is basically a scale to rate the painfulness of stinging insects.
Varshavski: What's the difference of just saying 0 to 10?
Schmidt: A one would be a Sweat Bee, a two would be something like a Yellow Jacket Wasp, a three would be something like a Harvester Ant, and a four would be a Tarantula Hawk.
Varshavski: What is a tarantula hawk?! If I wake up tonight and there's a tarantula hawk on me in New York City, I swear to God there's gonna be no YouTube videos for at least 2 weeks.
Narrator: It's no big secret that, in India, fair skin is seen as the beauty ideal; but skin color bias permeates all layers of society here and it's causing some women to go to extreme lengths to become lighter.
Varshavski: What's a "black doll treatment?" We do use this treatment for melasma, which is also known as the "mask of pregnancy," but this type of discoloration on the skin can occur with a lot of different situations: certain medications, thyroid disease, sun exposure, tanning beds.
Interviewer: How popular has this treatment been?
Man: From last year, there's a 100% increase in the number of people who are coming in for this treatment.
Varshavski: You know what's interesting? I've seen the cultural shifts with these. I remember when I was younger, there were treatments for freckles, to help freckles disappear.
, is a board-certified family physician and social media influencer with more than 10 million subscribers.