Having live snails crawl on your face may seem like torture, but when it comes to anti-ageing, the snail is more friend than foe.
In Asia it is the latest beauty craze with "snail spas" in Thailand offering snail treatments for everything from acne to skin whitening.
Mr Dewes-Hodgson emphasised that no snails would be harmed in the process.
"We would release them back into the garden ... I don't think you would want to eat them after they had been on someone's skin."
Andrew Woodhouse, owner of Fraser Cove pet store Kiwipetz, said he had not heard of snails being used as a beauty treatment, but had noticed a surge in demand for his water snails which retailed at $4 each.
He had put their popularity down to the Spongebob television series rather than a beauty craze.
"Lots of people mention that Spongebob has a pet snail. Snails are very entertaining pets ... quite characters actually."
Mr Woodhouse said he didn't think snails could come to any harm being put on the face although aqua snails shouldn't be out of water for too many hours.
David McDonnell, of Tauranga Vets, said he had not heard of the trend but was not worried about any harm to the snails if people put them on their face.
"Vets tend to care for things with a backbone ... so a snail would be considered a pest.
"Mmm I don't know the science of how it could make someone look younger - there must be something in the slime. I will look into it!".
Creams containing snail secretion are available to buy in New Zealand, such as Pure Helix snail renewal cream which claims to repair dry and damaged skin with the snail slime which contains glycolic acid to exfoliate dead skin and chondroitin sulphate to improve the appearance of wrinkles.
Annie Zhong, assistant at Health 2000 in Auckland said the cream, which retails for $39 was "very popular for its moisturising properties".
