Snail facials: The slimy secret to healthier skin

Facials using snail mucus all the rage in Thailand

There appears to be a new beauty craze taking over Thailand that is said to smooth out wrinkles and give you a younger-than-your-age look. The secret? Snails.

The Southeast Asian country ranks among the world's top spa destinations, with massage treatments of every description offered around just about every corner, reported The Guardian. Other members of the animal kingdom are also enlisted, including fish at some 4,000 pedicure spas.

But is this simply another marketing ploy or actually an effective way to plump up skin in need of repair or rejuvenation?  Some Thai women sing praises of helix aspera muller glycoconjugates -  or snail mucus for short.

PHOTO: AFP

While the facials are new, concoctions made from snail mucus are said to date back to ancient Greece, when the great physician Hippocrates reportedly crushed snails and sour milk as a cure for skin inflammations. In recent times, the French have turned this essence of escargot into assorted creams and lotions.

The fluid, exuded by snails when under stress, is known to contain beneficial nutrients and antioxidants, but Bangkok-based Dr. Dissapong Panithaporn and other dermatologists say that there has been no significant scientific research on how these actually work when applied to the skin.

Luc Champeyrouxfalling - owner of a French snail spa - says his all-natural line of snail products, Coquille, acts against burns, acne, stretch marks, scars and aging.

PHOTO: AFP

For many, the prospect of having slimy hermaphrodites (snails are unisex) crawling over your face may not immediately appeal. However, it might just be preferable to another natural therapy — 'uguisu no fun,' or nightingale feces facial, which has been around in Japan for centuries.