TikToker's tretinoin protocol update: what you need to know

What did @morenomiranda0 actually say?

Honestly, it's hard to say. The transcript we have is a garbled auto-transcription of what appears to be a Portuguese-language video, and it's nearly unintelligible in English. The caption, however, is clear: the creator is starting a retatrutide protocol and plans to document physical changes and side effects over time. That caption is doing real work here, because the spoken content couldn't be reliably transcribed.

Retatrutide is an experimental GLP-1/GIP/glucagon triple receptor agonist developed by Eli Lilly. It is not approved by the FDA, not available by prescription in Brazil or the US, and is not a peptide you can get through a licensed pharmacy or telehealth platform as of mid-2024. The video appears to be a "before" post, with the creator signaling they're self-administering a research compound. That context matters a lot for everything that follows.

Does the science back this up?

The retatrutide data is genuinely interesting, but it's phase 2 data, not a green light for self-experimentation. The 2023 Jastreboff et al. trial published in the New England Journal of Medicine showed mean weight loss of up to 24.2% body weight over 48 weeks in adults with obesity. That's a real number. It's also a number generated under controlled clinical conditions with weekly monitoring, not a TikTok protocol.

What the trial didn't solve is the safety profile at scale. Gastrointestinal adverse events affected the majority of participants. Cardiovascular effects, particularly around glucagon receptor agonism, remain under study. Retatrutide's triple agonist mechanism is pharmacologically distinct from semaglutide and tirzepatide, which means you can't assume a similar risk ceiling just because you've used other GLP-1 agents before. The 2023 phase 2 data is promising for future drug approval, not a protocol manual.

What did they get wrong (or right)?

The creator didn't make explicit false scientific claims in the transcribed content, so there's nothing to directly rebut on the facts. What's problematic here is the framing itself. Documenting a self-administered retatrutide protocol for 35,000 viewers normalizes access to an unapproved research compound as though it's a routine optimization tool.

Retatrutide is not a licensed therapeutic anywhere in the world as of this writing. It is not equivalent to a compounded peptide like BPC-157 or even to compounded semaglutide. It exists in research vials, not pharmacy bottles. Anyone sourcing it is buying from a grey-market peptide supplier, with no quality assurance, no sterility guarantee, and no dose verification. The creator may genuinely be tracking their results honestly. That doesn't make the underlying compound safe, legal, or responsibly sourced.

Credit where it's due: committing to document side effects is actually more responsible than most "peptide protocol" content, which tends to skip adverse effects entirely. If the follow-up videos honestly report GI symptoms, injection site reactions, or other issues, that's useful harm-reduction data for a population that's going to experiment regardless.

What should you actually know?

Retatrutide is a triple incretin receptor agonist that hit a 24.2% weight loss figure in phase 2 trials, which is higher than any approved agent in that class. That number has understandably generated enormous lay interest. But phase 2 means the drug showed enough promise and safety margin to move forward in development, not that it's ready for self-administration.

The glucagon receptor component is the part that separates retatrutide from tirzepatide. Glucagon agonism can affect heart rate, blood pressure, and hepatic glucose output in ways that GLP-1 alone does not. The Jastreboff 2023 trial reported increased heart rate in higher dose groups. For someone also using testosterone, which carries its own cardiovascular considerations, stacking an experimental triple agonist introduces compound risk that no one has studied in that specific combination.

If you're curious about GLP-1-class therapies for weight management, there are FDA-approved options with known safety profiles, accessible through regulated telehealth. Chasing a research compound because the phase 2 numbers look good is a bet on incomplete information.