‘Tanning tablet’ may result in blindness and melanoma, docs warn

In a never-ending battle against pastiness, people roast themselves in the sun, coat their bodies in fake tan and now, they’re taking tanning pills. 

Carter Gottlieb, a PhD candidate at Saint Louis University School of Medicine, who  avoids the sun and ‘lives like a vampire’, said he takes two supplements – astaxanthin and lycopene – to make himself look tan. 

After taking the pills for two months, Mr Gottlieb said he began noticing his skin looked sun-kissed. 

‘It’s subtle but people never told me my skin was glowing before and now they do,’ he said. 

But experts caution against these types of pills because the active ingredient in many of them, called canthaxanthin, can damage the liver and accumulate in your retinas, harming your vision, Dr Alexis Young, a dermatologist with Hackensack University Medical Center, said.

Mr Gottlieb, a PhD candidate at Saint Louis University, said he takes a combination of two pigment molecules – lastaxanthin and lycopene- each day in order to give himself a reddish tint, despite never going in the sun. 

Some of the popular brands being featured on social media include MyTan Bronze Tanning Pills, GlowSci’s tanning gummies and GlowMe pop up – costing $27, $59 and $35 respectively.

In addition, these supplements offer no protection against harmful UV rays and may lull users into a false sense of security while out in the sun, which could increase their likelihood of developing skin cancer. 

‘The ingredients can actually make your skin even more sensitive to sunlight, making you more susceptible to sunburn and potential skin cancers,’ Dr Young said. 

Some of the popular brands being featured on social media include MyTan Bronze Tanning Pills, GlowSci’s tanning gummies and GlowMe pop up – costing $27, $59 and $35 respectively. 

There have not been any adverse events directly linked to these brands- and none of them actually list canthaxanthin as an ingredient on their label- but Dr Young recommends against this type of supplement all together, mainly because of concerns about the antioxidant. 

They do contain a similar molecule, called astaxanthin. 

It’s true that taking these supplements daily will likely help you change your skin tone, but it might stray from the desired bronze to give you an orange, or even purplish tint, Dr Andrea Suarez, a board certified dermatologist based in Houston, Texas, said in a TikTok.

Ms Fionn warned against using tanning pills, saying she doesn’t understand why she used to use them. ‘Don’t take tanning pills,’ she said in her TikTok. 

People have shared their unfortunate pigment changes online. TikTok user Sona Fionn, said that she used to take these pills all the time in the early 2000’s, and said she looks back and questions why she used them because they ‘turned her orange’. 

Canthaxanthin is a molecule similar to beta-carotene, the pigment that gives carrots their orange color. It’s frequently used on farms to make the color of salmon flesh and egg yolks more vivid. 

Your skin color is controlled both by the natural brown, pink and red pigments that our body produces and by the nutrients you eat. 

When you eat canthaxanthin, which is a reddish pigment, your body processes it and then deposits that color into your skin, adding more of a red tint. 

It’s been approved by the FDA in small amounts as a dietary supplement and is said to support eye and joint health. But the amount you have to take to see a change in skin tone is potentially dangerous, Dr Mohiba Tareen said.  

Studies have shown taking this additive in high quantities can cause muscle cramp, vomiting and allergic reactions, Dr Tareen added. 

Canthaxanthin is also an antioxidant, a type of nutrient your body can use to fight against cellular damage that leads to cancer. 

While antioxidants can help your skin recover from sun, they don’t protect against its damaging effects in the way that sunscreen does, Dr Suarez said. 

Despite that, some users online claim that taking these pills can actually act as a natural sunscreen, but Dr Suarez pushed back, adding: ‘Please, please, please do not rely on a dietary supplement as an alternative or replacement to good sun protection.’

In addition, taking more than your body can process can stress your organs – particularly your liver, since it’s responsible for filtering all of the nutrients in your blood, Dr Young said. 

Outside of your liver, taking high amounts of daily canthaxanthin has been shown to create small, crystal deposits in the interior of the eye, according to ophthalmologists from Wright State University. 

These crystals, though small, can cause damage to the blood vessels that support the retina, and can lead to vision changes and blindness. 

Luckily, the Wright State University researchers wrote, these effects usually go away when someone stops taking canthaxanthin.  

All told, these pills pale in comparison to other, low-risk options, like tanning lotion, Dr Young said. Instead of the pills, she recommends tanning lotions that use a chemical called dihydroxyacetone (DHA), which reacts on the skins surface to produce a natural tan. 

No matter what synthetic tanning option you opt for, you should be adding a broad spectrum sunscreen to your routine to protect against sunburn, cancer and premature aging, Dr Young said.