Does it work: Snail slime skin care

One big skin care fad from the East is the use of snail mucus. It is believed to reduce pigmentation and scarring on the cute assumption that snail mucus was designed to heal the snail as it moves through jagged terrain. I've personally seen some snail mucin products and they're not as icky as I thought they would be. In fact, I'm thinking of reviewing one famed mucus containing moisturizer for fun.

I first learned about snail slime from Penn and Teller's Bullshit show. It was witty and brutal as always, and I thought the snail mask was a mean yet funny prank. At that time, I had no idea snail creams would be as huge as what they are now.

I read in one PubMed article that snail slime has been used in the old days as a treatment for burns and wounds (link). But appealing to antiquity is not a solid proof. I did find some studies but I did not find them very convincing. One of them is this article, which I cannot understand, and another is this article which is based on in vitro (layman's term: test outside of a living organism, such as a test tube or petri dish) tests. Another study describes tests done on burn victims (it has B&A pictures, too), but for me however, cannot be really trusted as in the end, it is revealed that the patients were receiving other forms of treatment. Therefore, teh possibility that the healing might be a result of the therapy and not snail cream exists.

Even if there are no convincing studies directed at investigating the effects of snail mucus on the skin, I still want to try even just one product just so I can see if products with snail mucus can be a good moisturizer and if it may have other benefits (I assume there is none). This will be an expensive experiment, but I am feeling adventurous.