Tissue Repair & Regeneration

Decapeptide-12

Decapeptide-12, sold as Lumixyl, is a ten-amino-acid chain that blocks tyrosinase — the enzyme that starts melanin production — by competing with it, rather than by damaging the cell that makes the pigment. That distinction is the whole pitch for using it on melasma and on the dark patches acne and injury leave behind. The controlled human record is a single split-face, randomised, vehicle-controlled pilot in five women with recalcitrant melasma, graded on a ten-point investigator scale, which reported improvement on the treated side in all five. The larger published studies are open-label and pair the peptide with 20 per cent glycolic acid, so they cannot attribute the change to it.

Last updated 12 August 2026

Studied forSkin brightening research · Melasma treatment context · Hyperpigmentation research

Evidence on file1 randomised human trial · 2 human observational studies · 1 in-vitro study · 1 computational study · 1 citation not yet graded

Strongest sourceEfficacy of Trifecting® Night Cream, a Novel Triple acting Skin Brightening Product: A Double-blind, Placebo-… (randomised human trial)

Mechanism

Competitively inhibits tyrosinase, the rate-limiting enzyme of melanin synthesis, without melanocyte cytotoxicity.

Reported effects

What sources associate with this compound. Reported categories, not outcomes we have graded — each would need its own citation and rung.

Skin brightening research
Melasma treatment context
Hyperpigmentation research

Manufacturer’s claim vendor marketing

For a proprietary cosmetic ingredient the manufacturer is the originator — there is no upstream to defer to, and this is often the only description that exists. It is reproduced as an attributed claim, with the label its source gave it. It is not graded and it is not evidence — the graded studies are under Literature.

Vendor claim (ci.guide): "5.5 times more effective than hydroquinone at equivalent doses in moderating melanin"; with glycolic acid "provides noticeable results and is indicated for the treatment of mild-to-moderate melasma"; participants "reported visible improvements with Decapeptide-12 in as little as 8 weeks, with a 50% improvement after 16 weeks" (n= not stated).

Manufacturer: not named on the vendor page
Sold as: Lumixyl
Manufacturer’s recommended use: "begins working at concentrations as low as 0.01%" (ci.guide)

Source page — nofollow, because a vendor link is a reference here, not an endorsement.

Dosing on file unverified

0.01% cream, 2x/day

Carried from a source that labels it unverified, and reproduced with that label attached. A record of what is reported, not a recommendation. No citation on this page establishes it.

Literature on file 6

human observational
Open-label evaluation of a novel skin brightening system containing 0.01% decapeptide-12 in combination with 20% buffered glycolic acid for the treatment of mild to moderate facial melasma. graded on: indexed as a clinical trial, design not stated — “Clinical Trial”
human observational
Open-label evaluation of the skin-brightening efficacy of a skin-brightening system using decapeptide-12. graded on: an observational human design — read from the indexed abstract — “prospective study”
computational
TIPred: a novel stacked ensemble approach for the accelerated discovery of tyrosinase inhibitory peptides. graded on: stacked ensemble machine-learning predictor, sequence data only — read from the abstract — “abstract review”
in vitro
Enhanced skin retention and permeation of a novel peptide via structural modification, chemical enhancement, and microneedles. graded on: an in-vitro system — read from the indexed abstract — “in vitro”
human RCT
Efficacy of Trifecting® Night Cream, a Novel Triple acting Skin Brightening Product: A Double-blind, Placebo-controlled Clinical Study. graded on: names a randomised controlled trial — read from the indexed abstract — “randomized clinical trial”

Not graded

1 citation whose study design could not be read from the title. Left ungraded rather than guessed at.

not graded
Lumixyl Skin Lightening Cream (2009)

Identity

Space-filling 3D model of Decapeptide-12, carbon grey, nitrogen blue, oxygen red — Built from the SMILES on this record — the atoms and bonds are exact. The shape is **one computed low-energy pose**, not a measured structure: a flexible peptide in solution has no single conformation, and where the SMILES leaves a stereocentre undefined the pose commits to one arbitrarily. The skeletal formula below claims connectivity and nothing more, which is what we actually know.

2D chemical structure of Decapeptide-12 — Built from the SMILES on this record — the atoms and bonds are exact. The shape is **one computed low-energy pose**, not a measured structure: a flexible peptide in solution has no single conformation, and where the SMILES leaves a stereocentre undefined the pose commits to one arbitrarily. The skeletal formula below claims connectivity and nothing more, which is what we actually know.

Molecular weight: 1395.5
Molecular formula: C65H90N18O17
CAS number: 137665-91-9
PubChem CID: 25087629
InChI key: OYVFAMLECFSFEI-UHFFFAOYSA-N
SMILES: C1=CC=C2C(=C1)C(=CN2)CC(C(=O)NC(CC3=CC=C(C=C3)O)C(=O)O)NC(=O)C(CO)NC(=O)C(CO)NC(=O)C(CC4=CC=C(C=C4)O)NC(=O)C(CCCCN)NC(=O)C(CCCN=C(N)N)NC(=O)C(CO)NC(=O)C(CCCN=C(N)N)NC(=O)C(CC5=CC=C(C=C5)O)N
InChI: InChI=1S/C65H90N18O17/c66-24-4-3-9-45(76-55(91)47(11-6-26-73-65(70)71)77-60(96)51(32-84)81-57(93)46(10-5-25-72-64(68)69)75-54(90)43(67)27-35-12-18-39(87)19-13-35)56(92)78-48(28-36-14-20-40(88)21-15-36)58(94)82-53(34-86)62(98)83-52(33-85)61(97)79-49(30-38-31-74-44-8-2-1-7-42(38)44)59(95)80-50(63(99)100)29-37-16-22-41(89)23-17-37/h1-2,7-8,12-23,31,43,45-53,74,84-89H,3-6,9-11,24-30,32-34,66-67H2,(H,75,90)(H,76,91)(H,77,96)(H,78,92)(H,79,97)(H,80,95)(H,81,93)(H,82,94)(H,83,98)(H,99,100)(H4,68,69,72)(H4,70,71,73)

Also called

Decapeptide-12
Lumixyl

Notes unverified prose

Open-label pilot (n not specified): 40% melasma reduction at 12 weeks, 50% at 16 weeks; 24-week study: 38.5% complete clearance from moderate photodamage; Open-label 24-week study: 38.5% complete clearance; split-face RCT

Not on file 2

1 of the 8 fields we track hold nothing on this record, and each says why. 1 further absence is named below. A blank field is a bug; a named absence is a finding.

amino-acid sequencenothing we hold supplies it
half-lifenothing we hold supplies it

Each field links to every other record missing the same thing. The full ledger holds 765 gaps across 163 records.

Listed prices 8

What 8 shops we track listed for Decapeptide-12, read from their own public catalogues on 2026-09-14. We take no commission on these and they are not ranked by any payment — how vendors are scored.

Compare prices8 listings from 8 shops

Listed in USD
Vendor	Size	Price	Per mg
Raw Amino	200 mg	$221.00 USD	$1.10/mg
Biotech Peptides	200 mg	$226.00 USD ~~$239.00 USD~~	$1.13/mg
Core Peptides	200 mg	$240.00 USD	$1.20/mg
USA Peptide Sciences	size not listed	$240.00 USD	—

Listed in CAD
Vendor	Size	Price	Per mg
Peptide Shop Canada	200 mg	$160.80 CAD	$0.80/mg
Core Peptides Canada	200 mg	$295.92 CAD	$1.48/mg

Listed in GBP
Vendor	Size	Price	Per mg
Direct Peptides Canada	size not listed	£61.76 GBP ~~£176.46 GBP~~	—
Direct Peptides USA	size not listed	£61.76 GBP ~~£176.46 GBP~~	—

Prices are the vendor's own listing, reproduced with the date we read it — never converted between currencies, and compared per milligram only where the vendor states the vial size.

At a glance

Strongest rung: human RCT
Citations: 6
Regulatory: Cosmetic ingredient
Route: Topical
Declared gaps: 2

Citations by rung

Strongest wins, never an average.