Dermatologists in multiple countries are expressing concern about TikTok influencers promoting what is known by some as 'the Barbie drug'.The drug, melanotan II, is banned as a cosmetic product in the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, Denmark, and other countries.In most of these countries, it's illegal to market or sell the drug for use as a tanning product.But online sales of the drug in the form of an injectable vial or a nasal spray persist. And so do influencer videos promoting its skin-darkening effects.These social media posts are "genuinely concerning," says Simone Goldinger, a clinician-researcher in dermatology at the University of Queensland in Australia, because "content creators rarely mention the real risks"."What is being sold on social media as a quick, 'safe' injectable or nasal-spray tan is an unapproved, prescription-only substance being self-administered with no medical oversight, no quality control, and often no clear idea of what's actually in the vial," Goldinger told ScienceAlert.
Melanotan II was first developed as part of a research program at the University of Arizona that began in the 1980s, in search of sunless tanning agents.They were exploring synthetic analogs of the peptide α-MSH (alpha-melanocyte-stimulating hormone) – a hormone that our bodies naturally produce to stimulate melanocytes, the pigmented cells in our skin – and came up with melanotan I and II.Coincidentally, these drugs also worked really well for sexual dysfunction in men. That's actually one of the major risks with melanotan II: priapism – a painful, relentless erection that lasts hours.One 55-year-old man found this out the hard way after injecting 2 mg of the drug into his abdomen, according to a case report published in Sexual Medicine in 2021.
