Decapeptide-12

What it is

Decapeptide-12 is a lab-made chain of 10 amino acids. Researchers at the Elixir Institute of Regenerative Medicine in California found it in 2009 by screening short peptides for ones that block the enzyme that makes skin pigment. It became the active ingredient of Lumixyl, a skin-brightening cream, as a gentler alternative to hydroquinone, the standard treatment for dark patches.

How it works

Skin color comes from melanin, a pigment made inside pigment cells (melanocytes) by an enzyme called tyrosinase. Decapeptide-12 attaches to tyrosinase and competes with tyrosine, the raw material the enzyme normally works on, so less melanin is made. In lab tests it did this without harming the pigment cells, unlike hydroquinone, which works partly by damaging them.

What studies found

• In a tiny split-face pilot, five women with stubborn melasma used the peptide cream on one side of the face and a placebo cream on the other for 16 weeks. The authors report that all five improved, with no irritation or allergy.
• In a 24-week open study of 13 women with dark patches from long-term sun damage, using a routine built around the peptide cream, 5 went from moderate patches to clear skin and the rest improved by one or two grades.
• All the studies in people tested creams, mostly together with a glycolic-acid lotion and sunscreen.

What we don't know yet

• Whether the cream beats a placebo in a proper trial. The only placebo-controlled study had five people.
• How much of the fading in the routine studies came from the peptide, rather than the glycolic acid and sunscreen used with it.
• How it compares with hydroquinone in people. No published trial has compared them head to head.
• How much of it reaches the pigment cells. It is a large, water-loving molecule that passes through skin poorly; a 2021 lab study tried adding a fatty tail or using microneedles to help it in.
• Several of the studies were run by the team that developed it.

Known risks

• In the published studies the creams were well tolerated, with no irritation or allergy reported.
• The studies were small and short, so rare side effects and long-term safety are unknown.
• Uses other than on the skin, such as injection, have not been studied in people.
• Products sold online as research peptides are unregulated, so what’s in them and how pure it is can vary.