# The pigmentation trial

> The pigmentation trial | Illumine Med Spa — A small Melanotan II trial, its skin-colour findings and the original photoprotection ambition, examined at Illumine Med Spa.

**Pigmentation**

The colour result is real enough to deserve its particulars. The ambition behind it was larger.

## Colour without ultraviolet exposure

The [pilot phase-I trial](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/8637402/) was single-blind and placebo-controlled, with 3 healthy male volunteers. Melanotan II increased pigmentation of the face, upper body and buttocks in 2 of the 3 after 5 low doses, without UV exposure. Mild nausea and spontaneous erections appeared alongside that result; somnolence limited dosing at the highest dose studied.

The buttock measurement is an unglamorous detail I appreciate. It locates the colour change on an examined body site, away from the flattering face that a tanning story invites me to imagine. The absence of UV exposure is also an intriguing finding in this particular experiment.

The colour change impresses me; the size of the experiment leaves me dissatisfied. A response in 2 volunteers leaves a great deal to learn about variation between people, persistence and consequences. The trial offers a starting point for those questions.

## The original photoprotection ambition

An earlier [preformulation paper](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/7983590/) described Melanotan II as a potential skin-cancer chemopreventive peptide and investigated its physical and chemical properties. Chemoprevention means trying to prevent cancer through a chemical intervention. In that paper, prevention was the proposed purpose of the research. The wider [alpha-MSH biology review](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37608347/) describes the MC1R-driven pigment pathway that provides context for synthetic analogues such as Melanotan II.

That ambition gives the later history an uncomfortable edge. A [review of unregulated alpha-MSH analogue use](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28266027/) gathered reports of changing moles and melanoma while explicitly leaving the causal link unproven. Beside those reports, the early preventive ambition feels painfully optimistic. The ambition and the subsequent record both deserve to remain visible.

![Curved pigment-coloured sample tiles under a diffuse measuring lamp beside a handheld colourimeter](images/pigment-comparison.webp)

*An imagined colour-measurement still life, rather than a reconstruction of the trial or its results.*

## Melanotan I and afamelanotide

The neighbouring research has a different identity. In [phase 3 trials involving people with erythropoietic protoporphyria](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26132941/), afamelanotide, the linear Melanotan I analogue, increased pain-free sun exposure and reduced phototoxic reactions compared with placebo. Those findings concern that compound and that condition.

A family resemblance can make this history feel smoother than it is. The [historical review](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16412534/) distinguishes the linear Melanotan I from the cyclic Melanotan II and the later PT-141 branch. I enjoy this fork in the history: one compound leads toward photoprotection research while the other branches toward sexual function. The [sexual-function research](/sexual-function) follows the other direction the family took.

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At Illumine Med Spa I follow published research through the detours of melanocortin biology; this editorial site is no med-spa business and supplies no medical advice.