There are so many trends in the wellness industry, it can be hard to keep up. But when the same one comes up in conversation four times in a week, it’s probably time to pay attention.
Depending on who you ask, peptides are either a miracle – promising better skin, faster metabolisms, rapid muscle recovery – or a major concern.
They’re short chains of amino acids that naturally occur in the body, so their presence alone isn’t the problem – it’s how people are choosing to replenish them. Like many things in the human body, peptides deplete over time. So, by topping them up via injections, we can slow the effects of aging, inside and outside. Simple, right?
Not really. There is so much more to the conversation around peptides than glowing skin and weight loss, but the risks are getting lost in the sauce. To bust some of the common myths around peptides, we caught up with Nina Kearney, Registered Nurse at SSKIN in Robina.
MYTH: Since peptides are naturally occurring, injecting them is safe.
BUSTED: Natural does not equal safe, especially when it comes to sourcing.
“When you’re buying peptides online, there’s really no way to know what’s actually in there,” Nina says.
Even in-clinic treatments can carry some risk, so Nina couldn’t even venture a guess as to the risks of at-home treatments. “It’s super scary,” she adds.
The ‘naturally occurring’ argument also falls apart when you consider tanning peptides, which stimulate your melanocytes and could, in theory, trigger melanoma. All in all, Nina says, it comes down to proven safeness – with newer treatments, we haven’t seen what they can do just yet.
MYTH: All peptides are the same – instead of paying to get them in clinic, it’s fine for me to buy them online and inject them myself.
BUSTED: While SSKIN doesn’t offer peptide treatments, they do offer NAD+, which helps to replenish the molecules responsible for cellular repair and aging. SSKIN sources its NAD+ from a compounding pharmacy that must comply with regulatory bodies.
“I know of someone who had a very adverse reaction to NAD+ sourced online, with fainting and dizziness that saw her end up in hospital,” Nina says. And while that may have been due to injecting herself, those risks could have been mitigated by receiving her treatment in clinic.
“The DIY routes are enticing, but at the end of the day you don’t know which other ingredients are in those injections, or how your body will react to them,” she adds. “If you’re trying to lose weight, work with your GP. If you’re looking for anti-aging, go to a compounding pharmacy and clinic. No amount of money is worth risking your health.”
MYTH: Peptides (specifically, semaglutides) are a long-term solution for weight loss.
BUSTED: By intervening with your metabolic processes, you’re not fixing an underlying issue – just managing it while you’re on the medication.
“Stop taking semaglutides and you’re back to square one,” Nina says. “We don’t have long-term research but, with peptides, you’re just replenishing the stores – if you stop taking them, your body could just revert back.”
MYTH: The best way to get glowing skin is to inject peptides.
BUSTED: Nina actually pushes back on the injection-as-gold-standard idea here. She points out that the skin is a massive organ, and that for many peptides, topical application can be just as effective as injecting.
“There are also safer, well-established options that exist for specific concerns, like hair growth and skin repair. They have a longer track record, which means more time to prove their safety.”
MYTH: Everyone is using peptides, so they must be regulated.
BUSTED: Some are, but not all. Nina notes that Australia’s Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) is deliberately slower to approve things, which she frames positively as “an abundance of caution” – meaning just because something is widely used or talked about, it doesn’t mean it’s passed regulatory scrutiny here.
According to the TGA, unapproved peptide products have not been evaluated for safety, quality or effectiveness – and their growing popularity poses major regulatory and public health risks. What’s more, the online market operates entirely outside this system, with no way to verify what’s actually in a product. The “everyone’s doing it” logic just doesn’t hold up.
