Hi, im a work colleague of Redbeard - http://melanotan.org/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.pl?num=1188698909/0 ,  
 
I decided to start taking melanotan II. We've shared our experiences and i am listing them here. To be honest some of the logs here do not even mention the negative side effects. They are either extremely lucky or the posts are fake trying to advertise the drug.
 
 
The Good
Redness in the cheeks and nose reduce dramatically, you receive an even natural tan rather quickly. This is pretty well known effects of the drug. It is however unrealistic to expect to develop a tan while maintaining excellent pigmentation. Darker tanned people naturally have more moles and freckles due to the naturally higher levels melanin.  
 
Everything talks about the positives, when the negatives can be viewed as quite bad. If you think the only cost for having a tanned body is the cost of the Melanotan and some needles then you are wrong.
 
 
The Bad
Hair colour becomes significantly darker. My dark blonde hair has turned dark brown. As facial hair is now much darker you have to shave significantly more often. In my case i estimate that i have to now shave 10 times as often to maintain the same appearance as before.
 
I have personally received just as many comments about my unshaved look than my new tan. On my upper lip even if i shave everything perfectly smooth i still have a noticeable shadow. I have even received comments about having a slight shadow within an hour of shaving perfectly smooth.
 
As a result i have started laser hair removal using IPL (Intense pulse laser). I have trialed the technique on my upper lip with great results. As my upper lip showed the most visible signs of facial hair i now only have to shave approximately 5 times as often when compared to before taking melanotan II. The cost of IPL hair removal can be anywhere between $20-30 per session for your upper lip and requires multiple sessions, so anywhere between $100 and $200 will be required.
 
I will most likely get IPL hair removal on my neck underneith my jawline as having to shave such a sensitive area atleast once a day leaves it quite irratated.
 
 
The Ugly
Moles, where do i start? The current moles become extremely dark and appear to increase in size slightly. Area's of skin that had no visible moles started to show signs of dozens of small brown/black moles. Redbeard had significantly more moles than me, however mine was still a very big concern.
 
 
Intense Pulse Laser - Mole/sunspot Removal
IPL (Intense Pulse Laser) Can be used for the removal of sun spots and moles that do not stick up from the surface. This means the majority of dark spots on the skin created by Melanotan can be removed using IPL. The frequency of light used is slightly different to the hair removal and targets the pigmentation of the skin instead of the hair follicles. The moles once zapped become raised/crusty like a scab and fall off a week later. Within a couple weeks all redness is gone, during this time you'll like you have pimples or even chicken pocks depending on how bad.
 
 
IPL Cost
The cost of mole removal using IPL is quite expensive. We both had IPL spot treatment performed on our upper bodies. It is recommended to perform IPL treatments on untanned skin, so waiting until after you become tanned will take a little longer until your skin goes back to normal.
 
Redbeard expereinced a worst case example and spent over $500 on IPL treatments and has reached an acceptable level. His skin still has more spots than before he started Melanotan. Redbeard for example would have to spend well over $1000 in IPL treatments to reach the same level of skin imperfections when compared to pre-Melanotan.
 
My experience required me spending only $250 to reach an acceptable level, however  i also spent over $500 in IPL in total after a second treatment. This allowed me to now have the same level of skin imperfections when compared to pre-Melanotan.
 
Radio Surgitron - Raised mole Removal
Raised moles that stick up even slightly from the skin cannot be treated using IPL. Most countries require these moles to be cut out, however this usually leaves a slight scar. Some skin specialists use a Radio Surgetron that cuts the mole flat with the surface. This usually removed all the pigmentation and significantly reduces the change of scarring.
 
Radio Surgitron cost
Most health systems give a slight rebate on this form of mole removal however it is still quite expensive as it required a doctor and local anesthetic. Redbeard and myself had half a dozen of these larger moles removed at a cost of $300 for six moles. Both of us have exceeded $1000 including the purchase cost of Melanotan so its much more expensive than initially thought.
 
 
How the drug kicks in:
After week 1: Existing moles become extremely dark
Week 2: First signs of tanning appear, lighter smaller moles start to appear everywhere.
Week 3: You'll start receiving comments on your tan, you'll also receive comments on your new unshaven look. The smaller moles are now much more visable and you start to get uneven pigmentation on most area's. The skin becomes thicker and the needles are more difficult to penetrate the skin.  
 
 
Dosages:
Time is required to develop the tan. Higher dosages will not make you tan signicantly quicker, you'll simply be wasting Melanotan and be walkign around with an erection all day. We do not reccomend taking dosages above 1mg. Taking 0.5mg daily will allow you to become very dark in 30 days. Taking 1mg may allow you to reach that same level of darkness for example in 25 days.  
 
So by taking smaller dosages over a longer period of time you'll actually become darker or use less Melanotan to reach the same level of darkness. Some people may disagree but our experience with two people makes this advice fairly accurate.
 
Would we do it again?
Redbeard would definitely consider doing it again.
Myself, i only wanted to be slightly darker and in hindsight i should have just gone to a solarium once a week instead.
 
I'll add more information soon, feel free to ask questions and i'll answer them in this post.
 

100% agree with your post.
This Forum might give you a false first impression that this is the perfect peptide for everyone.
It isnt, there are lots of people who are experiencing side effects of any sort, few are willing to share it but most wont.
They just drop out and you never hear back from them.
Atleast thats my opinion.
 
And yes this can be an expensive experiment for some people(myself included).
The truth is, once all these black spots and moles are popping up they are there to stay, this is a cosmetic problem.
There is no perfect solution to 100% remove all of these spots.
IPL is not perfect, Lasers are not perfect.
I have tried both.
Those moles can regrow and in my experience some do while others dont, depending on how deep the melanocytes are in the skin.
I have seen flat moles from melanotan II regrow aswell.
So you would need ongoing IPL/Laser Treatment.
It is not a perfect peptide...
 

i too have expereienced the darkening of facial hair.does it turn back to its origianl colour once the peptide is totally out of your system?
 
also how long does melanotan take to totally clear from your system?
 
one more question...once you have atan from using the peptide couldnt you theoretically stop using it all together and go on a sunbed once a twice a week which would maintain your tan?

Thanks for advice,  sideways i'll update the top post with more info when i get a chance to reflect some of your idea's.  
 
Quote from Scott on 07/22/08 at 13:21:42:

I knew that i was going to have to get mole removal done. I had set a budget of roughly $1000 to buy the drug and I had booked my first IPL treatment before i even started taking the drug.
 
The facial hair is my biggest concern. My hair started off much lighter than redbeards so darker facial hair became more obvious for me.
 
I definitely like my new tan, however if the laser hair removal isn't as permanent as i hope then i'll probably stop taking the drug completely as i am naturally a type 2 with no rosacea. I can get close to a type 3 with only slight redness by going to the solarium once a week. I did this 5 years ago and it was much cheaper than using melanotan once taking into account the mole/hair removal.
 
However if hair removal works perfectly (i doubt), i'll get my neck and maybe even cheeks done and will definitely keep using melanotan. I have started to put blonde tips in my hair to maintain my dark blonde hair.
 
 
A question for everyone: If someone stops taking Melanotan completely, the hair /skin goes back to its natural colour but will some moles remain and keep their pigment forever?

Quote from virginian on 07/23/08 at 00:14:41:

 
 
if you have used melanotan for many months, then it should take more than 3 weeks for hair color to go back to its original color I suppose?

Hey Blondebeard, you really don't like your darker beard? That's the only side effect I  agree with, actually when I don't use melanotan II during the winter months, what I miss the most is the darker beard, more than the tan, really.  
 
It seems like most of us "rubios" do like the darkening of the facial hair.  
 
The one visible side that I have and that I absolutely DON NOT like is the darkening of the gums, especially between the front teeth. However, that also fades away in the winter when I don't use this stuff.

Since I shave every day, I'm talking about the roots only.  The change is quite sudden.  For about 2 weeks, the "stubble" remains black.  Then, by the third week, the black is totally gone.
 
This has happened after taking quite a lot of melanotan II.  
 
If I had let the beard grow, I assume the hairs would stay dark until they were cut off.

This is why I believe M should only be used by people like me = type 0-1. I was not afraid to take a risk. I was so sick of looking white that I welcomed any chance at normalcy. Yes, I have spots on my back. I had some before anyway. And I planned on getting them all removed regardless of taking melanotan II or not.
 
The dark facial hair on me looks really good. I let it grow in on the weekends and girls love it. I look way better now then before. But I needed this drug. If you are a type 2 and up, I seriously question if this drug is needed.
 
I am taking .50 2 times a week now to maintain. I want to see how that goes. This drug has changed my life for the better so far. Yes, there is fatigue sometimes if you dose too much. I notice withdrawals if I wait 5 days w/out any melanotan II. But I can now be in the sun as long as I want and not burn. I look good in shorts and slides. I can wear White shirts..I don't look invisible in pictures. In my case, it's a win.
 

Funny, my experience so far after 25mg:
 
Good:  Stinking amazing tan.  Tons of comments from everyone.  I was a Type II and now even my black friends think I almost qualify to be a brother.  Maintaining on about 1mg/week.
 
Bad: Lots of boners.  (Should I move this to the good section?)
 
Ugly: I gotten about six new freckles and my niece says I look hot.

Very true, I sometimes look in the mirror and think I am not very dark anymore until I see pictures of me beside other skin types asians etc and realize I am actually darker. In my mind I am still not that dark.