The Deadly Tan Jab Injection
Dr Ayham Al-Ayoubi: It’s easy to buy on the internet – a DIY injection which gives an instant all-over tan but everyone should know that the tan injection could trigger heart disease and cancer.
ZO Medical Skin care
Dangerous injection kits that claim to make the skin tan faster are easily obtainable on the internet, but this online shopping trip had ended view people in hospitals A&E, as they did not know the terrifying possible side effects and risks involved.
Dr Ayham Al-Ayoubi: It is very worrying that warnings about the tan injections were being ignored and people who are injecting an unlicensed medicine they are gambling with their health.
ZO Medical Skin care
Dr Ayham Al-Ayoubi: The very fact that it is illegal for sale in the UK should serve as the strongest warning against injecting a substance into the body for which we do not yet have the full safety data.
Health regulator the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) says it has shut down 74 websites selling the product Melanotan. It is also investigating gyms, beauty salons and tanning shops that it says illegally sell the product.
The Tan injection contains Melanotan , a hormones that increase the levels of the brown pigment melanin in the body.
ZO Medical Skin care
Dr Ayham Al-Ayoubi: The unlicensed tan injections contain the chemical melanotan which increases melanin pigment, the body’s natural protection from the sun.
A medicines watchdog has warned men and women are putting their health at risk by using products which contain the chemical melanotan.
The Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), said the substance has not been tested for safety and warned consumers not to be tempted.
ZO Medical Skin care
Dr Ayham Al-Ayoubi: In December 2008, the drugs watchdog, the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), outlawed the product, which has earned the nickname ‘jabba-tan’, after finding it causes skin discoloration, stops the healing process and lowers the immune system so dramatically that patients have got meningitis.
Tan-accelerating products have become increasingly popular with beauty-conscious web-surfers seeking an easy fix.
They differ from fake tans, which colour the skin by dyeing it or prompting the outer layers to change colour.
Dr Ayham Al-Ayoubi: Tan accelerators meddle with our body chemistry on a far deeper level. They can be swallowed as pills, injected or applied directly to the skin as creams.
They make our skin react to sunlight in a stronger way than normal, turning us brown faster than is natural.
Often these products are marketed as a safe option, with makers claiming they reduce the time you need to spend roasting in the sunshine or under ultraviolet lights in order to achieve a deep, bronze tan.
Dr Ayham Al-Ayoubi: Yet the truth is very different. Chemicals in the products make the skin more sensitive to ultraviolet light by making our cells much more reactive.
In response, we produce more brown pigment — melatonin — more quickly. The results can be dangerously disfiguring, as some men and women have found to their cost.
Naturally sun-kissed: Many such as models Gemma Atkinson, Sophie Anderton and Chantelle Houghton want to top their tans up they tend to favour tanning sprays and beds – not the illegal jab.
Doctors are witnessing rising numbers of patients with skin problems linked to such products.
Dr Ayham Al-Ayoubi believes the active ingredients in tanning accelerators are causing the problem.
Many of the products available from overseas sellers on the internet use drugs banned in Europe for safety reasons.
One of these drugs — psoralen — is used in controlled prescriptions for people with skin problems such as psoriasis and vitiligo. But it makes the skin more prone to damage from sunlight and in response the cells produces melatonin quicker in order to try to protect themselves.
Dr Ayham Al-Ayoubi: Another drug found in tanning accelerators is tyrosine, which is also used for its apparent ability to stimulate melatonin. But its known side-effects include anxiety, heart arrhythmia and high blood pressure.
Dr Ayham Al-Ayoubi : Psoralen, it can be bought on internet sites as a pharmaceutical drug or as an ingredient in tanning accelerators. The dangers of psoralen prompted the EU to ban its use as a tanning activator in sunscreens in 1996.
Italian researchers found it can raise a person’s risk of skin cancer by four times. The substance is an irritant that makes the skin more susceptible to ultraviolet light, and this can damage DNA.
The experts from the European Institute of Oncology in Milan say that anyone who has ever used a psoralen-based tan accelerator should get themselves regularly screened for melanoma — the most dangerous type of skin cancer.
Those at highest risk are paler-skinned people with a lot of moles.
Just as disturbingly, psoralen can cause the skin to burn horrifically. Plastic surgeons at Sweden’s Linkoping University Hospital have reported two cases of patients with burns on more than 90 per cent of their body.
The full injuries emerged only a week after they had smeared on a psoralen-based tan accelerator while using sunbeds.
Dr Ayham Al-Ayoubi is concerned about the long-acting effects of tan-accelerating substances. ‘They stay in people’s skin far longer than they think,’ he says.
People should invest in a professional spray tan for special occasions and rather than slapping on fake tan, many women prefer a moisturiser that slowly builds up a natural, subtle colour.
Dr Ayham Al-Ayoubi: Most of us have experimented with fake tan — with varying degrees of success. The secret to an even glow is to exfoliate thoroughly beforehand and moisturise dry areas to avoid a build-up of too much colour.
Despite most suppliers of melanotan being based abroad, they frequently use British website addresses, so customers never guess they are beyond reach of legal comeback should things go wrong.
The problems that people have suffered as a result of using this tan type of product provide further evidence of why you should stay away from unlicensed products.
Dr Ayham Al-Ayoubi: The very fact Melanotan is not licensed for sale in Britain should serve as the strongest warning against injecting a substance into the body for which we don’t yet have the full safety data.
Dr Ayham Al-Ayoubi is warning that tan accelerators give people the false impression that their skin is protected against the sun. A tan is a sign that our skin has been harmed by UV radiation and is trying to defend itself against further harm.
Having a tan does not protect the skin from further damage. The protecting power of a tan is weaker than that of a low protection sunscreen of SPF 2-4.
Dr Ayham Al-Ayoubi: This false sense of security is a major cause of potentially cancerous holiday sunburns, where people have pre-browned using tan accelerators, then gone abroad believing they can stay in the sun with little protection.
Also, many who use tan accelerators avoid sunblock for fear the accelerators will stop working and instead of returning from their holiday with beautiful skin, they may come back with burns and blemishes and perhaps something worse.
These tanning products have not been approved for use in the UK and there are no guarantees they are safe, of an acceptable quality or effective in use.
Dr Ayham Al-Ayoubi: They have the potential to cause serious side effects which include stomach and heart problems, as well as nervous system disorders.
There are several reports of people’s health suffering as a result of using such products, which illustrates why people should stick with safer ways of getting a tan, such as self-tanning lotions.
To view all posts by Dr Ayham Al-Ayoubi, click here
