Tanned, slim, and long lashes?

Article medically reviewed by Dr. Gavin Chan

Templestowe Lower, Berwick and Beaumaris Clinics

Dr. Gavin Chan, MBBS, General Registration (MED0001175745), founder of the Victorian Cosmetic Institute, began offering cosmetic medical treatments in 2004. Formerly a trainer for cosmetic pharmaceutical companies, Dr. Chan currently concentrates on offering ongoing training to cosmetic doctors at the Victorian Cosmetic Institute. He ensures that all doctors stay updated with the latest procedures and methods in the cosmetic industry. Read More

When I heard of the prospect of a drug that could make you tanned and slim without the need for sunlight or dieting, I thought it sounded too good to be true, and maybe I should have trusted my instincts…

Melanotan II was the name of this drug we trialled on 3 of our staff with varying results.

Quoting from melanotan.org: Melanotan and Melanotan II are both synthetic versions of melanocyte stimulating hormone that were created, synthesized and developed at The University of Arizona and the Arizona Cancer Center. Melanotan is a linear, full length peptide (containing all 13 amino acids). Melanotan II is a shortened, circular version of the same peptide. Both Melanotan and Melanotan II have sunless tanning capabilities but because Melanotan II had libido enhancement and spontaneous erections as side effects, To be particularly clear regarding Melanotan (due to previous incorrect news reports) it should be noted that it does not cause sexual arousal nor have erectile effects. These aspects are only found in the drugs Melanotan II and bremelanotide.

So what happened in the end ?

• 3 out of the 3 people in our trial felt severe nausea after their first injection of the recommended dosage (so obviously the increase in sex drive wasn’t apparent)
• All felt irritated and had difficulty sleeping
• 2 out of 3 people stopped after the 1st injection
• 1 out of the 3 people after using the drug experienced some mild sunburn on one of her arms after a brief exposure to sun in her car.
• 1 out of 3 people continued the injection at 1/2 the recommended dosage (to avoid nausea) for 2 weeks

The person who continued Melanotan II ended up getting a mild tan, more so on the face than on the other areas of the body, but also noticed a significant increase in the darkening of moles / naevi on her face, and ceased the treatment as a result.

So in conclusion, Melanotan II wasn’t all it scrubbed up to be, although it did have the desired effect of tanning the skin without sunlight – albeit with many side effects.

On to our second staff trial …

Allergan have recently released a product called Latisse (not yet available in Australia) that is to be used to grow eyelashes. It is essentially an exisiting product of Allergan’s called Lumigan that has been repackaged and FDA approved. Lumigan has the same active ingredient as Latisse (bimatoprost 0.03%), but its intended use is for glaucoma – a condition that causes increased pressure in the eyes. One of the known side effects of Lumigan was that it grew your eyelashes (a side effect that has been exploited by Allergan) and this was our intended use of the drug.

We used Lumigan rather than Latisse, as it has the same active ingredients as Latisse, was available in Australia, and also is significantly cheaper than the proprosed price for Latisse.

We have trialled it on several of our female staff, and after 4 weeks have obtained some preliminary results as shown in these pictures.