Marie Madden was an alternative therapy sceptic, until a trip to Marguerite Fallon's acupuncture clinic forced her to rethink her stance on the issue.

Acupuncture is part of Traditional Chinese Medicine or TCM, which has been used and documented for over 3,000 years. Fine sterile needles are inserted at predetermined points on the body, called acupuncture points. It is commonly used to treat pain and inflammation, common ailments and chronic illness.

Despite being something of an alternative medicine sceptic, last week I accepted an invite for a treatment at Marguerite Fallon's clinic in Terryland Retail Park, to see if there was something to be gained from this increasingly popular treatment.

According to Marguerite, the treatment is completely risk-free and is safe to use on babies, children, pregnant and nursing mothers, chronically ill and elderly patients. I wasn't sure.

"Acupuncture is seen as something people often come to as a last resort in the West, whereas in China its pre eminence has always been Jing Ming, or the attainment of the best possible health for the individual. Traditionally, people went to the acupuncturist to maintain their good health and, if they fell ill, they had to be treated without payment until they returned to good health. Many people who come for acupuncture for a specific problem find that other ailments, aches and pains also improve and their energy levels increase. There are a huge amount of benefit that can be gained from the treatment," Marguerite says.

On arriving at the clinic, Marguerite took one look at my stressed and tired skin and advised me to have a Danné skin mask combined with the acupuncture. Before beginning the process, she asked me numerous questions about my lifestyle before checking my pulse and tongue, as is tradition in Chinese medicine.

With the formalities out of the way, I nervously hopped onto the treatment bed and said a silent prayer that I wouldn't come out her office looking like I had suffered a bout of stigmata. Luckily Marguerite was well accustomed to nervous patients and, within minutes, her relaxed manner and great sense of humour had cast any worries from my mind.

After cleansing my skin and applying a warm towel, she brushed on a Danné enzyme mask to clear imperfections and improve my complexion. These products were originally created with a medical rather than a cosmetic background and promise real results. Marguerite became aware of the Danné system when she was working as a nurse in the early 1990s.

"I trained as a registered general nurse at the Meath Hospital. I worked as a nurse in a number of hospitals and as a practice nurse in a doctor's surgery. One of the areas I worked in was endocrine medicine and, while I was doing this, I noticed that great numbers of women had severe hair growth problems and both male and female patients had a wide variety of skin problems associated with their hormone imbalances. So I went and trained in electrolysis and beauty therapy in order to be able to help these patients. After a lot of research, I came across Dr King in California, who, at the beginning of the 90s, was offering advanced skin care training in enzyme therapy, which was a deeper type of treatment than that which was on offer through conventional beauty treatments."

Dedicated to finding a treatment that works, Marguerite then travelled to the USA to learn about the Danné system. Working with Dr King, she then qualified as an advanced skin technician and returned to Ireland to offer the treatments to patients. While the system is now very popular and widely available, when Marguerite returned she was one of only three people offering this service.