Intravenous treatment ‘bars’ are growing in popularity in the US, offering customers ‘hydration therapy’ for ailments ranging from acute illnesses to the more common hangover.

Customers are pricked in the arm with a needle and hooked up to an IV bag containing saline solution laced with vitamins and assorted other ‘wellness’ ingredients for around 30 minutes, according to today.com.

Examples of such facilities include a one in Tampa, Florida, called HangIVer Bar – owned by an anaesthesiologist. There are five drips on his menu: RevitalIV, Hair of the Dog, Chicken Soup, Finish Line and Fountain of Youth. Prices vary from US$115 (€86, £68) to US$159 (€119, £94).

“The concept is based on a modern wellness spa that allows people to get treatment for not just hangovers but for acute illnesses,” said Dr Uhuru Smith, the owner.

A mobile hydration therapy centre called Hangover Heaven bus in Las Vegas was launched in 2012 – cruising the Las Vegas Strip on Saturdays and promising to rid revellers of their hangover symptoms. This bus was also set up by a board-certified anaesthesiologist Dr Jason Burke, who trained at Duke University in North Carolina. According to today.com Hangover Heaven has already treated some 20,000 customers.

In New York City the intravenous therapy, provided by The IV Doc, is supplied to customers during house calls – mostly for customers in need of hangover relief, according to the company’s CEO and founder Dr Adam Nadelson.

“Fifty per cent of our patients ask for hangover relief from dehydration from the night prior,” Nadelson said.

Dr Mark Morocco, a professor of emergency medicine at the Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center worried, however, that while the risks of infection or irritation of the vein are small, they are not being taken into consideration.

“There is a risk every time you break the skin,” Dr Morocco said. “I can’t imagine why anyone would pay money to be stuck with a needle for therapy that’s no better than drinking chicken soup and taking Tylenol at home.”