This latest addition to the
global beauty and wellness craze — snail facials — as it surfaces in the hills
of northern Thailand is only natural.
This Southeast Asian country ranks among the world's top spa destinations, with massage treatments of every description offered around just about every corner. Other members of the animal kingdom are also enlisted, including fish at some 4,000 pedicure spas.
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.
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.
Taksaphan na Pohn, a
22-year-old recent university graduate, said she had earlier tried laser and
other techno-treatments but after some research decided that 'natural therapy'
was better. She said snails helped clear her acne when she was stressed during
her studies.
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