"Tanning injection", "tan jab" and "Barbie drug" all describe the same thing in practice: a synthetic copy of the hormone that tells pigment cells to make melanin, sold online and injected under the skin to darken it without the sun. This page sets out what is actually sold, what laboratories have found when they tested it, and how regulators classify it. It gives no dose, no method and no source, and it does not recommend the product; a changing mole or any reaction is a matter for a doctor.
What is sold
Almost every product sold as a tanning injection is melanotan II, a small ring-shaped peptide designed at the University of Arizona. A smaller number are sold as melanotan I. The usual form is a freeze-dried powder in a small glass vial, which the buyer mixes with water before injecting. Pen devices and nasal sprays are sold as well; this page is about the injectable vials.
The vials are typically labelled for "research use only" or "not for human consumption". That wording describes how the seller wants the product classified, not what it is. Regulators look at how a product is marketed and used, and the UK's MHRA treats injectable melanotan as a medicine (its April 2024 position is quoted on our tanning peptides page). In the US, FDA's 2007 warning letter to the first large melanotan seller called melanotan II an unapproved new drug.
Nothing sold as a tanning injection has been approved as a medicine. The one approved drug in this family, afamelanotide (Scenesse), is chemically melanotan I, but it is a dissolving implant placed by a trained clinician, made to pharmaceutical standards and approved only for erythropoietic protoporphyria, a rare disease that makes light painful. Our afamelanotide and Scenesse page covers that approval.
What laboratories found inside the vials
Because no regulator checks these products, the only independent evidence of what they contain comes from laboratories that bought or were sent samples. We found three such analyses:
| Study | Samples | What was found |
|---|---|---|
| Breindahl 2015, Drug Testing and Analysis (PMID 24771717) | Melanotan II vials bought from three online shops, each labelled 10 mg | 4.32 to 8.84 mg of melanotan II per vial, i.e. 43% to 88% of the label. Vials from two shops carried unknown impurities of 4.1% to 5.9%; the third shop's impurities were below the measurable limit |
| Deville 2024, Journal of Forensic Sciences (PMID 39302005) | A seized vial of pharmaceutical appearance labelled "Melanotan II" | Identity confirmed against a reference standard; purity 30% |
| Mestria 2021, Drug Testing and Analysis (PMID 33245851) | Eight unknown samples confiscated by police with anabolic steroids, hormone modulators and stimulants | Characterised as melanotan II and bremelanotide, the latter a sexual-function drug from the same family |
Three observations follow, and none depends on a single vial. First, the amount on the label and the amount in the vial differed in every quantified sample. Second, the impurities were "unknown": the laboratories could measure that something else was present but not say what it was. Third, the forensic papers describe the analytical work as difficult. Deville's team notes that melanotan II, at 1,024 daltons and carrying two charges, was outside what their routine instruments were set to detect, so an ordinary drug screen may not recognise it at all.
The Breindahl authors, who include public-health researchers from Liverpool, conclude that users "may be exposed to a range of potential harms" because the products are "manufactured, distributed and supplied from an illicit market".
Who uses them, and how they are talked about
There are no reliable population figures for melanotan use, because it is bought covertly. What exists is indirect:
- A qualitative study of UK and Irish online forums between January 2016 and October 2017 extracted 623 posts from 205 people (Gilhooley 2021, PMID 34464955). Recurring themes were preparing and administering the product, dosing, sunbed use, side effects and "misinformation in the context of using an unregulated product". Motivations included sun holidays and fitness and bodybuilding competitions.
- A 2018 survey posted to a user forum asked about motivation, difficulty of acquiring the product and plans to keep using it (Callaghan 2018, PMID 30142729).
- A 2017 systematic review of injecting image- and performance-enhancing drugs identified 133 relevant papers and noted that many patterns of use "are not scientifically documented" outside user forums (Brennan 2017, PMID 26806443).
- Two 2025 letters in the Journal of the European Academy of Dermatology and Venereology analysed melanotan content on TikTok and other social media (PMIDs 39148422, 38808957), and a 2026 letter describes melanotan use "promoted via social media" as an emerging dermatologic and public-health risk (PMID 41559011).
The risks the sources describe
The effects reported after melanotan use, from moles and melanoma to kidney infarction and priapism, are counted by source type on our melanotan side effects page. They come overwhelmingly from case reports, which describe what happened to individuals and cannot establish cause, and several involve people who also used sunbeds or other drugs.
Tanning injections add risks that belong to the format rather than the molecule. The Irish forum study's authors list "transmission of infectious diseases, use of potentially contaminated products, polypharmacy, and sunbed exposure". A 2017 dermatology review adds that there are "questions regarding the preparation, administration, and dosage of these substances" (Habbema 2017, PMID 28266027), and a 2026 review of unregulated "biohacking" injectables names product contamination, manufacturing impurities and inaccurate dosing among its concerns (Moiz 2026, PMID 42757290). The laboratory results above are the measured version of that last point.
The mole question is covered in its own section of our tanning peptides page. Dermatology sources consistently advise that a new or changing mole be examined by a doctor; we report that advice, in their voice, and add nothing to it.
What has not been studied
- No controlled trial of any product sold as a tanning injection. The trials of melanotan II in the 1990s used material made for the trial.
- No systematic testing of the market. Three laboratory papers cover a handful of shops and seizures, and no regulator publishes routine results that we could open.
- No count of users in any country from a population survey that names melanotan separately.
- No long-term follow-up of people who have used tanning injections for years.
For how the two melanotans differ, see melanotan 1 vs melanotan 2; for the definitions, Peptide Lexicon's melanotan II entry.
The needle-free version has its own, thinner record: see what is known about melanotan nasal sprays.
Sources
- Breindahl T, Evans-Brown M, et al. Identification and characterization by LC-UV-MS/MS of melanotan II skin-tanning products sold illegally on the Internet. Drug Test Anal 2015. PMID 24771717.
- Deville M, Charlier C. Barbie drug identification: Not a child's play. J Forensic Sci 2024. PMID 39302005.
- Mestria S, et al. LC-HRMS characterization of the skin pigmentation and sexual enhancers melanotan II and bremelanotide sold on the black market. Drug Test Anal 2021. PMID 33245851.
- Gilhooley E, Daly S, McKenna D. Melanotan II User Experience: A Qualitative Study of Online Discussion Forums. Dermatology 2021. PMID 34464955.
- Callaghan DJ. A glimpse into the underground market of melanotan. Dermatol Online J 2018. PMID 30142729.
- Brennan R, Wells JSG, Van Hout MC. The injecting use of image and performance-enhancing drugs in the general population: a systematic review. Health Soc Care Community 2017. PMID 26806443.
- Habbema L, et al. Risks of unregulated use of alpha-melanocyte-stimulating hormone analogues: a review. Int J Dermatol 2017. PMID 28266027.
- Moiz A, O'Keefe EL, O'Keefe JH. Dangers of Injectable Peptides and Other Unregulated "Biohacking" Drugs. Mo Med 2026. PMID 42757290.
- Herlihy M, et al. Trending on TikTok: an analysis of melanotan content on social media. JEADV 2025. PMID 39148422. Orr E, et al. The 'Barbie Drug' — marketing and perceptions of melanotan on social media. JEADV 2025. PMID 38808957. Sidhu AS, et al. Int J Dermatol 2026. PMID 41559011.
- Regulator positions (FDA 2007, MHRA 2024) as quoted and dated on our tanning peptides page.