Synthetic melanin induces tan, reduces damage.(Clinical Rounds)

SAN FRANCISCO -- Fair-skinned volunteers injected with synthetic melanin readily acquired tans and showed minimal epidermal damage following exposure to ultraviolet light in a study unveiled at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Dermatology.

Dr. Ross Barnetson, the Raymond E. Purvess Professor of Dermatology at the University of Sydney (Australia) and the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, both in Camperdown, New South Wales, reported on the experimental approach to sun protection during a special session high-lighting exciting new trial data.

He explained that 79 Australian subjects, most of them fair-skinned women, were enrolled in a 3-month trial comparing subcutaneous abdominal injections of melanotan, an analog of [alpha]-melanocyte-stimulating hormone ([alpha]-MSH), with placebo.

Melanin density, measured in the skin using spectrophotometry, increased significantly in patients who received the injections for 10 days a month for 3 months.

"What was fascinating was that ... the patients with low baseline MED [minimal erythema dose]--that is, [Fitzpatrick] skin type I or skin type II--had much better responses than those with high MED," Dr. Barnetson said during the session. "It was a big surprise to us that, suddenly, people with red hair were getting a tan."

Patients with low baseline MED scores demonstrated a 40% increase in melanin density over eight separate skin sites, compared with a 12% increase in those with high baseline MED scores.

Melanin density increases were seen in both skin that had been exposed to the sun and skin that had not.