I tried out the health scan that has a 100,000 person waitlist
Come with me to the Neko body scan, the hottest ticket in wellness
This week I found out that I have 979 mole or skin markings on my body, my blood pressure is “excellent”, and my grip strength is in the top 10 percent of women aged 40-45 (I have never come across a jar I couldn’t open). A couple of weeks ago I wrote that the hottest ticket in London is not Cate Blanchett in The Seagull but a body scan which can safeguard your future health and on Wednesday I tried it out for myself.
Neko Health, a Swedish start-up backed by Spotify’s Daniel Ek with a clinic in Marylebone that opened at the end of last year, currently has a waiting list of over 100,000 people all desperate to try out what is being hailed as the future of medicine. It costs £299, the whole thing takes an hour, and it promises early detection of chronic diseases such as diabetes, cardiovascular irregularities and some cancers by checking the overall health of your heart and arteries, the moles on your body, and your blood sugar and cholesterol levels. In January the company raised $260million (£201million) in funding and has plans to launch in the US.
As I make my way there on the Tube, I feel nervous, like I am about to take an exam that I hadn’t studied for. In Neko’s first year running the body scan in Stockholm, 14 percent of individuals needed further medical attention or monitoring. Of course everyone wants to be healthy but I’ve noticed my health anxiety has definitely increased since I had a child almost three years ago. It’s an added incentive to, you know, stick around for longer. I am also 42, the sort of age when people start to really think about the bodies they’ve been lugging around (and not in a ‘can I still wear a bikini?’ kind of way).
I wait in Neko’s Tiffany blue-coloured reception with a mixture of excitement and dread. But everyone there is friendly and relaxed and in my personal dressing room I put on a HAY bathrobe and some ugly looking footwear which I later discover are Nike Air Jordan Hex slippers before entering a butter yellow room that could be a set on a sci-fi movie, albeit a chicly designed one playing light jazz.
First up is the full body scan which you stand up for and is kind of like what you do at the airport except you’re only wearing knickers and there’s a soothing automated voice of a woman rather than an angry security officer. It takes a few seconds and then you’re invited to lie down on the bed which, because of the sterilised surroundings, slightly feels as if you’re attending your own autopsy. Here they draw blood and laser you before hooking you up to do an ECG scan and sticking monitors all over to collect information about your blood pressure and circulation. Then they check your eye pressure to detect early signs of glaucoma.
Next a doctor (mine was a woman) comes in and maps your moles, meaning they go all over your body checking all your markings with a magnifying glass. You can opt out of this bit if you like; you have to stand in just your knickers while the doc investigates your skin from all over and they know some people will be uncomfortable with this. Since giving birth, I’m very easy about being in various states of undress in front of medical professionals, so much so that I actually remove my robe too early and they have to tell me to put it back on. Oops. This was probably the one I was most intrigued about as I’m very fair and paranoid about moles, something I’ve been to the GP about before. After the checks you go through to a final room where a doctor talks you through their AI-assisted findings for about 15 minutes, while you’re faced with your own revolving digital avatar which will make you feel like you’re about to take on an intergalactic mission for at least the third time that day.
In the end, I get the all clear ie the results come back without any issues and there are no hidden nasties. Well not quite, three of my moles are photographed and sent to a skin specialist for further investigation. Moles aside, I feel relieved that things like diabetes and heart complications (both of which my late father had issues with) are, for now, at bay.
There have been some accusations that these private health checks actually burden the NHS because people then go to them with some small piece of information that is picked up in a scan. While I can see how this might happen, I think it is possible that you can leave more confident about your health too. And when a private mole mapping session can cost similar to the £299 price of the Neko body scan, then it feels like a no brainer.
If you’re keen to try it out for yourself but that waitlist sounds off putting, they have exciting plans which I am not able to share here. Might I suggest giving their Instagram a follow so you can be the first to hear when they make any announcements?
I walk out of the clinic feeling like I know more about my body and health than I have at any point during my entire 42 years, even more than when I stayed in the hospital for eight days after giving birth. Maybe, possibly, for the first time ever.
I attended the Neko Health body scan as a guest of the company.
I cannot go without taking a moment for the new Chloe fall collection that debuted at PFW yesterday. I am in love with each and every look, it’s my favourite of Chemena Kamali’s since she took over the French fashion house. I want the dresses, the blouses, the jewellery, the coats.
Most of all I want the belt. I suspect this belt style will be reproduced by dozens of less high end places, which I will probably have to settle for.
I hope you all have lovely weekends and if you’re in the UK then enjoy the sun. I’ll most certainly be using sunscreen.
Gillian
Thanks for sharing! Maybe it’s irrelevant but just curious, do you drink coffee?