Viral 'Barbie drug' for tanning can cause brain swelling and even cancer, experts warn It doesn't take much to fall down the Barbie Drug rabbit hole. In self tanner subreddits and on TikTok Shop, the tanning injectionaka Melanotan IIis marketed as a self tanner alternative that works by What are 'melanotan' injections? Explaining the controversial tanning drug Dazed Illegal tanning nasal spray not a 'harmless alternative' to sunbaking, says TGA ABC News Your body already makes a hormone that tells your skin to tan. Melanotan 2 is a synthetic peptide engineered to mimic that hormone but in a version that's more potent and longer lasting than Insights into Tanning Biology and Tanning Products JCAD The Journal of Clinical and Aesthetic Dermatology