People suffering from undiagnosed body dysmorphia are risking their lives by injecting illegal peptides instead of seeking professional medical help, a leading specialist has warned. <\/p>\n
Dr Ritu Gupta, a medical and cosmetic dermatologist, said those struggling with the condition often bypass legitimate clinics for unregulated substances.<\/p>\n
Body dysmorphia is a mental health condition in which a person spends a lot of time worrying about flaws in their appearance.<\/p>\n
As peptides surge in popularity, TikTok is filled with posts and videos promoting their formulas as the ultimate \u201cglow blend\u201d for \u201cskin rejuvenation\u201d or for those seeking \u201cinjury or muscle recovery\u201d. <\/p>\n
The unregulated web pages try to skirt regulations by saying they are only for sale for \u201clab use only.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople ask about their skincare and peptides are part of their skincare \u2013 there are studies to show they can be helpful in cream forms,\u201d she said<\/p>\n
\u201cBut when injected, we don\u2019t know \u2026 It\u2019s crazy, it shouldn\u2019t be available, it shouldn\u2019t be advertised.\u201d <\/p>\n
Dr Gupta said while it\u2019s normal for people wanting to look and feel their best, it\u2019s when people become \u201cobsessed\u201d with imperfections and flaws that red flags appear. <\/p>\n
\u201cPsychiatric conditions, like body dysmorphia syndrome, where people have a complete obsession with something that is actually not there, that’s a psychiatric condition,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThose people absolutely should not be treated with any forms of laser, injectables or anything because they will never be happy. What they need is a psychiatrist.\u201d <\/p>\n
Dr Gupta said urgent regulatory framework is needed around importation and promotion of peptides. <\/p>\n
The Courier-Mail viewed several Australian-based peptide sites and social media pages, with people making claims that a small glass bottle is the ultimate \u201cglow blend\u201d for \u201cskin rejuvenation\u201d or for those seeking \u201cinjury or muscle recovery\u201d.<\/p>\n
The search prompt \u201cpeptide\u201d led to several social media videos also promoting \u201chigh purity peptides\u201d.<\/p>\n
Powers used under the Telecommunications Act 1997 require internet service providers to block access to certain websites if they are in breach of the Therapeutic Goods Act 1989.<\/p>\n
\u201cAustralia has the strongest rules in the world about advertising things like Botox and fillers. I think we need similar strong rules about naming these peptides and spruiking these peptides,\u201d Dr Gupta said. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe internet is the wild west, people can import things that are not TGA approved.\u201d <\/p>\n
A TGA spokesman said the disclaimers being pushed on peptides websites such as \u201clab use only\u201d or \u201cnot for human use\u201d do not change a product\u2019s regulatory status or legal obligations.<\/p>\n
\u201cBetween July 1, 2025 and December 31, 2025, over 13,000 reports of alleged unlawful therapeutic good import, export, manufacture, supply or advertising were received by the TGA. Some of these reports will relate to peptides,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The TGA has approved a number of peptide-based medicines for specific indications following assessments of their quality, safety and effectiveness. <\/p>\n
These are only permitted for legitimate medical purposes when prescribed by a doctor or specialist.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"People suffering from undiagnosed body dysmorphia are risking their lives by injecting illegal peptides instead of seeking professional…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":415453,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[134,554,555,111,139,69],"class_list":["post-415452","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mental-health","tag-health","tag-mental-health","tag-mentalhealth","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/415452","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=415452"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/415452\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/415453"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=415452"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=415452"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=415452"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}