MODEL RELEASED. Cupping. View of a female patient being treated with the cupping technique. This is an ancient alternative therapy which draws blood to the surface of the skin. Despite the fact that cupping fell out of favour after the development of modern medicine, it is still used in China and Turkey. A small vessel, often a glass jar, is put onto the skin and heated. When it cools, the air inside contracts causing the creation of a partial vacuum; the skin is sucked into the vessel producing a rounded area of inflammation. Photographed in The Netherlands.