Melanotan... what is it?

[growstrong]

title pretty much says it all... what is it, how does it work, and does it in fact work at all... is it even a peptide? haha

Thanks

[ENIGMA]

Heres one of the few articles i could find on it, IBE used to have a good article on both melanotan and melanotan 2 but i cant find it now.

Both drugs were developed at the University of Arizona. Researchers there knew that one of the best defenses against skin cancer was a natural tan which has been slowly developed over weeks. They hypothesized that an effective way to reduce skin cancer rates in people would be to induce the body's natural tanning system to produce a protective tan prior to UV exposure. They knew the body's naturally occurring hormone alpha-melanocyte stimulating hormone (α-MSH) caused melanogenesis, a process by which the skin's tanning cells (melanocytes) produce the skin's tanning pigment (melanin). With that knowledge they tested to see if administering this hormone to the body directly could be an effective method to cause sunless tanning. What they found was that while it appeared to work, natural alpha-MSH had too short a half life in the body to be practical as a therapeutic drug. So they decided to find a more potent and stable alternative, one that would be more practical.

After synthesizing and screening hundreds of molecules, the researchers headed by Dr. Victor Hruby, found a peptide that after trials and testing seemed to not only be safe but also approximately 1,000 times more potent than natural α-MSH. [1] They dubbed this new peptide Melanotan. Since their discovery, numerous studies dating back to the mid-1980s have shown no obvious toxic effects of Melanotan[citation needed]. Because skin cancer (melanoma) today is a major health concern, Melanotan is expected to be used as a drug to combat it. Melanotan will do this[citation needed] by stimulating the body's natural tanning mechanism to create a tan without first needing exposure to harmful levels of UV radiation [2]. This in turn will reduce the potential for skin damage that can eventually lead to skin cancer.

Apperantly from what I have read, M1 is better than M2 but it takes a higher dose to get the results. But if im understanding correctly, you still have to tan while on melanotan to see results.

Heres a pic:
http://www.melanocorp.com/images/beforeafter/a18t.jpg

pretty decent results id say.

[GeneGnome]

I tried it about a year ago, one side effect is an increase in moles, I do not recommend. Used a fairly low dose, didn't tan, received little sunlight. I did get a bit darker. Had to stop early because of the moles, they were forming fast. Perhaps tanning would reduce them.

I also think this is a bad idea for most people because it will decrease vitamin D production when you do get out in the sun. There is a good reason for being white in cooler climates.

[growstrong]

great post Enigma... really interesting article. The 3 stage pictures do it great justice. Thanks for clarifying this man.

[growstrong]

Originally Posted by GeneGnome

I tried it about a year ago, one side effect is an increase in moles, I do not recommend. Used a fairly low dose, didn't tan, received little sunlight. I did get a bit darker. Had to stop early because of the moles, they were forming fast. Perhaps tanning would reduce them.

I also think this is a bad idea for most people because it will decrease vitamin D production when you do get out in the sun. There is a good reason for being white in cooler climates.

Interesting Gene... thanks for the info. increased moles is no good, did they go away after you stopped using it?

[GeneGnome]

Originally Posted by growstrong

Interesting Gene... thanks for the info. increased moles is no good, did they go away after you stopped using it?

No, I managed to get rid of most of them using a product. From the anecdotes I read it doesn't happen to everyone, but I haven't kept up to date on them since then.

[ENIGMA]

Gene, were you using Melanotan or Melanotan II?

[GeneGnome]

II

[Voodoo]

While Melanotan II did make my two friends and I darker, it also comes with a host of sides that I was only semi prepared for. In all three of our cases, here are the sides we saw;
Dizziness
Nausea
Darkening of existing and development of new skin moles
Random erections
Hot flashes

We all started with very small doses, as I hadn't ever injected anything before, so better safe than sorry right?

Friend A saw very little in the nausea and dizziness department, until the doses were upped to levels which were recommended on the site, at which point his average erection time span was approaching 6 hours. Facial flushing, and some mild darkening did occur, but as he put it after his third injection (over the span of a week) "Im so friggin done with this stuff dude, my dick cant take anymore"

Friend B saw almost no sides whatsoever. After one small dose he said he was seeing erections on and off for up to 7 hours after. Obviously this frequency increased as the dose was raised. He's Brazilian, and after 2 days he was NOTICEABLY darker, however he was developing moles all over the place - not to mention the additional 6 hours of nausea. Finally, he decided it wasn't for him.

In my own experience, Im now totally against the stuff. I get nauseated at even the lowest dose, and as the dose increased the seasick, I-just-hate-life feeling gets stronger and stronger until the day we did the recommended dose, at which point I spent the entire afternoon and evening vomiting. Which was only made semi humorous by the fact that as I was bending over to vomit, I was being stabbed in the stomach by an erection that lasted 3 1/2 hours. Never again.

I hope that helps you, my advice; take a vacation to get tan, don't inject the stuff. All three of us look back on it as hilarious that we were so miserable and never want to go back to it again.

[foggia]

I used it a year or so ago and I only noticed increased freckles which I don't have many of naturally.