Melanotan What It Is and Its Relation to Skin Cancer Hannah Tittensor and her boyfriend Ben Dunlop have been injecting themselves with an illegal tanning drug called Melanotan for three years. On top of that, they use sunbeds regularly and slather themselves Melanotan is not a tan. It's an unregulated peptide with real risk. As a dermatologist, here's the reality: It has been linked to new and changing moles including cases of White model Martina Big, who now a ''black' after taking tanning injections, announces plans to move to Africa.