The National Medicines Safety Agency (ANSM) had already raised the alarm in recent years. She finally decided to regulate access to Periactin, an antihistamine misused to “make buttocks grow bigger”, whose “merits” were touted on social networks.
From July 10, this medication originally prescribed for allergies will only be available on prescription to “limit misuse […] for weight gain for aesthetic purposes,” the ANSM indicated this Wednesday.
A silhouette similar to that of Kim Kardashian
“The goal is to draw a marked waistline to create the illusion of an hourglass silhouette similar to that of the famous Kim Kardashian,” highlighted, for example, in her content, the influencer Poupette Kenza who advised taking this medication to “gain three kilos in less than a month”.
The molecule present, cyproheptadine, which treats conjunctivitis or rhinitis caused by allergies, in fact promotes an increase in appetite. But it can also cause a series of side effects, sometimes serious, if taken uncontrolled, such as “convulsions, agitation, or drowsiness, urinary retention, tachycardia, constipation, dryness of the mucous membranes. These effects are not trivial,” Isabelle Yodjian, medical director of the Medicines Safety Agency, told France Info.
“We are not the Internet police”
The ANSM made its decision “on the basis of what we see on social networks where there is always significant promotion of the “cosmetic” use of this treatment, explained Isabelle Yoldjian. However, it is difficult to get an idea of the real extent of the misuse of Periactin because, beyond pharmacies, this treatment is widely sold online, in a manner that is difficult to control. If the measure taken by the ANSM will have an effect in pharmacies, it is more difficult to assess to what extent it will have an effect on online sales.
“We are not the Internet police,” acknowledged the medical director of the ANSM, who nevertheless judges that the actions undertaken by the agency have already contributed to greater awareness of the risks associated with misuse of this treatment.
