Tripeptide-2_Dosage, benefits & legal status
Also known as Val-Tyr-Val, VYV, valyl-tyrosyl-valine, Progeline FF, tripeptide 2
Progeline with the fluorine taken off, and the claims changed.
Common vial size is what vendors typically sell, not a recommendation. Enter your own vial in the calculator.
What is Tripeptide-2?
Plain language first. The technical label stays, but it never stands alone.Overview
This is the quiet half of a swap that happened in 2024 and was never explained. The anti-sagging ingredient this site covers as Progeline is a three-building-block peptide with a small fluorine-containing cap stuck on one end. In September 2024 its supplier launched a new version with that cap removed, and the active ingredient is this one. The interesting part is what the cap was doing. A 1977 paper in a major biochemistry journal tested capped and uncapped versions of exactly this peptide against an enzyme that breaks down elastin, and the capped one was by far the most potent thing they made. The uncapped version, the one you are reading about, was the weaker comparison. The supplier's own marketing reflects that: the new product dropped the elastin claim entirely and talks about cell aging instead. So the two are not interchangeable, and the firming numbers attached to the older one should not travel.
Tripeptide-2 is the INCI name for the unmodified tripeptide valyl-tyrosyl-valine, CAS 17355-22-5, UNII TKH5CTS4VV, three residues, sequence VYV, registered with a cosmetic domain tag and a synthetic sequence origin. It is the parent of Trifluoroacetyl Tripeptide-2, CAS 64577-63-5, UNII E6WT9V3SGO. The European regulatory inventory itself describes that substance as a reaction product of trifluoroacetic acid and Tripeptide-2, and this site covers it as Progeline. Both substances store the identical one-letter sequence. Tripeptide-2 reaches formulators as the active in a reformulated supplier ingredient whose claimed mechanism is progerin suppression with sirtuin induction, replacing the elafin-like elastase inhibition claimed for the trifluoroacetylated parent product.
What it's used for
Used in topical skincare, where its supplier claims delayed cell senescence through progerin suppression and sirtuin induction. A cosmetic ingredient, not a drug. No human efficacy study exists for it.
How does Tripeptide-2 work?
What it does in the body, and where.Two cards on this site now share one three-letter sequence. Getting the difference right matters more than the mechanism itself, because the mechanism is exactly what the difference changes.
- 01The molecule, and the capThree residues: valine, tyrosine, valine. The version this site already covers as Progeline carries a trifluoroacetyl group, a small cap built around three fluorine atoms, on the front end. This one does not. In the single-letter notation used across this site both read VYV, and the substance registry stores VYV for both, so the difference is invisible in the way either molecule is usually written down.
- 02What the cap was for, from 1977The capped peptide was not chosen at random. A 1977 paper in the Journal of Biological Chemistry tested trifluoroacetylated tripeptides against human leukocyte elastase, the enzyme that breaks down elastin, and found they inhibited it far more strongly than their unblocked, acylated or benzyloxycarbonylated counterparts. The most potent compound in the study was trifluoroacetyl-Val-Tyr-Val, with an inhibition constant of 1.3 micromolar. That is the chemistry behind the elastase story on the Progeline page, and it is real primary enzymology from 35 years before that ingredient launched.
- 03Which makes this molecule the weaker arm of that experimentUnblocked Val-Tyr-Val is this ingredient, and in that 1977 study the unblocked peptides are the comparison group that performed far more weakly. So the conclusion is not a guess: removing the cap substantially weakens elastase inhibition. Anyone transferring Progeline's firming numbers to this ingredient is moving them away from the molecule the numbers were measured on.
- 04The supplier agrees, without saying soThe reformulated ingredient's own technical page claims it delays cell senescence by preserving nuclear architecture through lower progerin, increasing DNA integrity and cell longevity through SIRT-1, and optimizing cell function through SIRT-3 with less reactive oxygen. The elafin mimicry and elastase inhibition claimed for the older product are gone. That is exactly the change you would expect if the group carrying the elastase activity had been removed, and the supplier never connects the two.
- 05What supports the new claimNothing that could be found. There is no efficacy data of any kind attached to the reformulated ingredient, in cells or in people, on the supplier's page, its distributors' pages or in the trade coverage. The launch announcement says the ingredient has clinically demonstrated remarkable efficacy, with a lifting effect at 28 days and a building effect at 56 days, and gives no design, no number of participants, no population and no figures. A literature search on the trade name returns zero indexed publications, and a search on the trifluoroacetylated name returns only passing mentions in reviews. **No published human efficacy study exists for either form of this peptide.**
What else is it used for?
Each group carries its own evidence level.Approved means regulators have cleared it for that purpose. Investigational means it is in trials. Early research means it is being studied and is not established.
Two substances, one sequence
none- RegulatorySeparate registry records with separate identifiers: UNII TKH5CTS4VV and CAS 17355-22-5 here, UNII E6WT9V3SGO and CAS 64577-63-5 for the trifluoroacetylated form. Each CAS resolves to exactly one record.
- lab-analysisBoth records store the identical one-letter sequence VYV, so the sequence cannot tell them apart. The same situation as the two radiolabeled somatostatin analogs on this site.
- RegulatorySeparate European ingredient records with different declared functions: skin conditioning here, skin conditioning and skin protecting for the trifluoroacetylated form.
- RegulatoryThe European inventory describes the trifluoroacetylated substance as a reaction product of trifluoroacetic acid and Tripeptide-2, making this molecule the parent in the regulatory record.
The cap carried the activity, and that is sourced
peer-reviewed-human- Lab studyA 1977 Journal of Biological Chemistry study found trifluoroacetylated tripeptides inhibit human leukocyte elastase far more strongly than their unblocked counterparts, with trifluoroacetyl-Val-Tyr-Val the most potent at an inhibition constant of 1.3 micromolar.
- Lab studyUnblocked Val-Tyr-Val is this ingredient, and it is the weaker comparison group in that same study. So removing the cap weakens elastase inhibition, and this is read from the primary paper rather than inferred.
- No dataThe firming and elastase figures published for the trifluoroacetylated product therefore cannot be carried across to this one.
The supplier changed the claim and never said why
none- No dataThe reformulated ingredient claims delayed cell senescence through lower progerin, higher SIRT-1 and higher SIRT-3 with less reactive oxygen. The elafin mimicry and elastase inhibition claimed for the older product are absent.
- No dataNo supplier page mentions the earlier product at all, so there is no stated discontinuation and no stated reason for the change.
- No dataThe supplier's own closest statement is that the ingredient is PFAS-free and made by a more environmentally friendly synthesis process. It never mentions fluorine, trifluoroacetyl or regulation.
- No dataThe abbreviation FF is never expanded on any of the six sources opened, so what it stands for is not established.
The regulatory timeline, verified independently of the supplier
none- RegulatoryA cosmetics red list updated August 2022 names Trifluoroacetyl Tripeptide-2 and its CAS as a tier 1 PFAS, under a definition covering any chemical with at least one fully fluorinated carbon atom.
- RegulatoryCalifornia's ban on intentionally added PFAS in cosmetics uses that same definition and took effect January 1, 2025. Eleven US states have enacted such bans, seven of them using the same class definition.
- No dataThe reformulation launched September 5, 2024, about three months before five of those bans took effect. That is a timeline, not a stated rationale.
- RegulatoryNo European regulation in force was found restricting a trifluoroacetyl group in cosmetics; the wider European PFAS restriction remains a proposal. The enacted pressure is US state law.
Evidence and market reality
none- No dataNo published human efficacy study exists for either form. A literature search on the trade name returns zero indexed publications, and one on the trifluoroacetylated name returns only passing mentions in reviews with no primary efficacy study.
- No dataAn independent dermatologist writing about the trifluoroacetylated version in 2024 said she had seen the manufacturer's claim but could find no proof or publication.
- lab-analysisIt is really in market: a Korean ampoule already shipping lists Tripeptide-2 as its thirty-second of thirty-two ingredients, with no connection to the supplier ingredient at all.
- No dataA second serum lists it twenty-third of twenty-five while headlining two percent, and that product's own lead active does not appear in its published ingredient list.
- No dataProduct counts in circulation are not usable: one aggregator advertises 138 products, and a spot check found a listing that contains Tripeptide-29 and no Tripeptide-2, because the matcher catches this name inside the longer one.
The central error is treating this as the same ingredient as Progeline, and the most common form of it is an ingredient-decoder page that describes Tripeptide-2 as working by inhibiting the proteins that break down collagen and elastin. That is the elastase mechanism, it belongs to the trifluoroacetylated molecule, and the 1977 study that established it found the uncapped peptide substantially weaker. The same error moves numbers: the firming, elasticity and jawline figures published for Progeline were measured on the capped molecule and should not travel to this one. A separate inflation sits on top of that, where a widely repeated claim of a ten percent jawline lift in 56 days appears to overstate a figure nearer three percent in the underlying trade article, though that article could not be opened directly and the smaller number is secondhand. Next, the reformulated ingredient is often presented as new; it launched in September 2024, and the only date suggesting otherwise is a page field that renders as whatever day you read it. The abbreviation in its name is widely assumed to mean fluorine free, and no source states it. Last, product counts: an aggregator claiming well over a hundred products containing this ingredient is matching this name inside Tripeptide-29, and at least one listed product contains none of it.
The published record
Papers about Tripeptide-2
Searched: tripeptide-2, Val-Tyr-Val, Progeline FF.
Left out: trifluoroacetyl tripeptide-2 (THE critical rejection. A SEPARATE registered substance (UNII E6WT9V3SGO, CAS 64577-63-5) that this site already covers as progeline, and the registry stores THE IDENTICAL one-letter sequence VYV for both, so the sequence cannot tell them apart. A 1977 J Biol Chem study found the trifluoroacetylated form far MORE potent against human leukocyte elastase, with the unblocked peptide as the weaker comparator, so their data must never be merged); Progeline (the trade name of the ORIGINAL trifluoroacetylated product, covered under its own slug. The reformulated product carrying THIS peptide is Progeline FF, and the two product names differ by two letters); F3acetyl Tripeptide-2 (a supplier-used alias for the TRIFLUOROACETYLATED form, printed on the 2015 Progeline INCI line, not for this peptide); ECM-Protect (a SEPARATE sibling product of the trifluoroacetylated active per the supplier's own 2015 brochure, with a different composition. It is currently listed as an alias on the progeline card and that is imprecise); tripeptide-29 (OBSERVED SUBSTRING CONTAMINATION: an ingredient aggregator's filter for this ingredient catches Tripeptide-2 INSIDE Tripeptide-29, which is how it advertises 138 products when a spot-checked listing contains Tripeptide-29 and Tripeptide-1 and no Tripeptide-2. Tripeptide-29 has its own slug. Never reuse those counts); tripeptide-1 (a different cosmetic tripeptide (GHK) with its own slug, and present alongside this ingredient in at least one Korean multi-peptide formula); tripeptide-10 citrulline (a different cosmetic tripeptide with its own slug, and the ingredient a published guide already confused with Progeline, a correction the progeline card carries); Lipotec (DO NOT USE. The progeline card currently attributes development to Lipotec and that is wrong: Lipotec is a Spanish peptide house acquired by Lubrizol whose brand is Argireline, in a different corporate family. Progeline was developed by Unipex Innovations, which renamed itself Lucas Meyer Cosmetics in April 2012).
12 papers tagged human · 10 not reviews or lab · 0 clinical trial publications
How the compound was given: 2 applied to skin · 3 injected · 1 by mouth or rectal · 41 route not stated in the abstract
Read from each paper's indexing terms and abstract, by rule. A paper that mentions a cream studied a cream, not necessarily the product being sold.
Furthest stage reached: No clinical trial on record
Counted from Europe PMC indexing, not read by a person; a human tag can land on reviews, commentary or lab papers; clinical trial publications is the narrower count. A preprint and its journal version count once.
At a glance
Four things to know about Tripeptide-2
Evidence
Cosmetic
Category
Skin and cosmetic
Common vial
Varies
Half-life
Not measured, and not the right question
How much, and do you cycle it?
The range, and whether you take breaks.Serum, per product, daily. Not cycled Community practice
Used daily as part of a routine. The effect depends on continued use and returns to baseline when you stop, so there is nothing to cycle off.
Not measured, and not the right questionNo figure
This is a topical cosmetic ingredient. A blood half-life measures how fast something is cleared from the bloodstream, and nothing here is meant to reach the bloodstream. The question that matters for a topical peptide is whether any of it crosses the outer layer of skin at all, and for this ingredient no permeation study exists. A three-residue peptide is also a plausible substrate for ordinary skin peptidases, and no stability work in a finished formulation could be found.
You can compare this against the whole library to see where it sits.
What does it cost?
Typical dose and cost, in plain numbers.Tripeptide-2 is not injected in the forms covered here
It is taken on the skin (topical). Applied as a topical product at the concentration the manufacturer sets. There is no injected dose. No supplier use level is published for the ingredient. One finished serum headlines two percent, and the ingredient sits twenty-third of twenty-five on its own list, and that is only consistent if the two percent describes the supplier's glycerin and water solution rather than the peptide. That product does not say which it means.
How do you store it?
Before mixing, and after.Room temperature, out of light. Cap it tight after each use.
Tripeptide-2 ships as a cream, gel, or serum. Keep it at room temperature away from sun and heat unless the label says otherwise. Refrigerating an emulsion can split the texture. Watch for color, smell, or separation changes and stop using it if any appear.
What are the side effects and cautions?
Known cautions and warnings for this compound.Who should avoid it
- Carrying over the firming and jawline numbers published for Progeline, because those belong to the trifluoroacetylated molecule and a 1977 study shows the uncapped peptide is substantially weaker against the enzyme in question
- Treating it as an elastase inhibitor, since its own supplier dropped that claim when it launched this version
- Reading the supplier's PFAS-free description as a statement about why the molecule changed, because no supplier source gives a reason at all
Stop and get help
- Redness, burning or swelling that persists after use, as with any new topical
- Any irritation if using it near the eyes, where firming serums are often applied
Common effects
- Nothing specific has been reported for this ingredient.
Where this page says nothing is established, that means nobody has studied it, not that a compound is safe.
Is Tripeptide-2 approved?
And where the numbers on this page come from.Not as a medicine. Tripeptide-2 is sold without a prescription as a cosmetic ingredient, which is a different thing from being approved as a drug.
- Approval statusCosmeticSold without a prescription as an ingredient in cosmetics, such as skincare and hair products. The FDA does not approve cosmetics before they are sold, and being easy to buy says nothing about whether it works.
- RouteOn the skin (topical)
- Checked6 November 2026
- DoseFrom the concentration range manufacturers formulate at. This is a product strength, not a dose set by a regulator or a trial.
- Vial sizeFrom what vendors typically list; not a recommendation.
- SourcesJournal of Biological Chemistry, trifluoroacetyl tripeptides as potent inhibitors of human leukocyte elastaseFDA substance registration records for both tripeptidesSupplier technical page for the reformulated ingredientSupplier launch announcement for the reformulated ingredientCosmetics PFAS red list and California Assembly Bill 2771European cosmetic ingredient records for the two substances
What has happened recently
A cosmetic ingredient, so there is no approval to have, and the regulatory record is unusually informative here because it keeps the two molecules apart where the market does not. The FDA substance registry holds them as separate substances: Tripeptide-2 at UNII TKH5CTS4VV with CAS 17355-22-5, and Trifluoroacetyl Tripeptide-2 at UNII E6WT9V3SGO with CAS 64577-63-5, each resolving uniquely on a single-CAS query. Both records store the same three-letter sequence. The European inventory goes further and states the relationship outright, describing the trifluoroacetylated substance as a reaction product of trifluoroacetic acid and Tripeptide-2, making this molecule the parent in the regulatory record itself. The two also carry different declared functions in the European ingredient database: this one is listed for skin conditioning, while the trifluoroacetylated form is listed for skin conditioning and skin protecting. That is a regulator-facing distinction rather than a marketing one. Neither record carries a molecular formula or weight, and no restriction or annex entry applies to either.
You can compare this against the whole library, or read how to check a seller.
What else is like Tripeptide-2?
Others in Skin and cosmetic, side by side.If you're weighing Tripeptide-2, it's worth reading GHK-Cu, Melanotan II, and Melanotan I (Afamelanotide) in the same class.
Progeline with the fluorine taken off, and the claims changed.
- Dose
- Serum, per product
- How often
- Daily
A copper peptide used in skincare and also sold in vials for injection, where far less has been studied.
- Dose
- 0.5 up to 2 mg per day injected (community practice). On the skin: per product
- How often
- Daily
A shot for a fast, deep tan, plus libido and appetite effects.
- Dose
- 0.25 up to 1 mg per dose (start low, increase slowly)
- How often
- Daily loading, then maintenance
A tanning peptide. The FDA-approved version is an implant for a rare sun-pain condition.
- Dose
- 0.5 up to 1 mg per day (loading phase)
- How often
- Daily then weekly
Guides for this compound
- mcg vs mg: The Peptide Dosing Mistake to Avoid
Your vial says mg and your protocol says mcg. Here is the conversion and how to check it.
- How to Read a Peptide COA
What the purity number does and does not tell you, and how to spot an edited report.
- How to Vet a Peptide Vendor
Independent COAs, HPLC purity, and the red flags that mean walk away.
Sources
- Journal of Biological Chemistry, trifluoroacetyl tripeptides as potent inhibitors of human leukocyte elastase(1977)Volume 252, issue 17, pages 5931 to 5933, by Lestienne, Dimicoli and Bieth. The single most useful source for telling these two ingredients apart. Trifluoroacetylated peptides inhibited human leukocyte elastase far more strongly than their unblocked, acylated or benzyloxycarbonylated counterparts, and the most potent compound tested was trifluoroacetyl-Val-Tyr-Val at an inhibition constant of 1.3 micromolar. The unblocked peptides, this ingredient among them, are the weaker comparison group in the same experiment. One bibliographic note: a major literature database renders the page range as 5391 to 5393, a digit transposition. Crossref, publisher-sourced, gives 5931 to 5933, and that is what is used here.
- FDA substance registration records for both tripeptides(2026)This ingredient is UNII TKH5CTS4VV, CAS 17355-22-5, substance class protein, protein type peptide, one chain, three residues, sequence VYV, definition level complete, sequence origin synthetic, with a cosmetic domain tag. The trifluoroacetylated form is a separate substance at UNII E6WT9V3SGO with CAS 64577-63-5. Each CAS resolves to exactly one record on a single-code query, so the two are cleanly distinguished by identifier and not at all by sequence, since both store VYV. Neither record carries a molecular formula or molecular weight. The formula in circulation for the trifluoroacetylated form, C21H28F3N3O6 at 475.5, comes from a research-chemical catalog rather than the registry, and no formula for this unmodified peptide could be verified anywhere.
- Supplier technical page for the reformulated ingredient(2024)The page that makes this ingredient's existence checkable. Its INCI composition reads, verbatim, Glycerin (and) Water (and) Tripeptide-2, with the same line appearing on the supplier's own mirror site and on an authorized distributor's page. Its claimed mechanism is delayed cell senescence through lower progerin, higher SIRT-1, higher SIRT-3, less reactive oxygen and improved metabolic activity, and the origin is given as a biomimetic peptide obtained by green chemistry-based synthesis. Two things are absent: any efficacy figure, and any mention of the earlier trifluoroacetylated product. One caution for anyone checking the date: the page's edition date field renders as the day you read it, identically on two different hosts, so it is generated rather than a revision date. The real content dates are the September 5, 2024 launch announcement and an October 1, 2024 trade roundup, making this ingredient roughly two years old rather than new.
- Supplier launch announcement for the reformulated ingredient(2024)Dated September 5, 2024, and the closest thing to a stated reason for the change. It describes the ingredient as PFAS-free and made by a more environmentally friendly synthesis process. It never mentions trifluoroacetyl, fluorine, regulation or the earlier product, and its only regulatory word is China-compliant, unexplained. On efficacy it says the ingredient has clinically demonstrated remarkable efficacy, with a lifting effect at 28 days and a building effect at 56 days, and gives no design, no participant count, no population and no numbers. Worth noting that the supplier's parent has a separate November 2024 release about a complete PFAS-free portfolio; that one covers its additives business, names powder-coating and polymer processing products, and does not mention cosmetics at all, so it is not a cosmetics commitment.
- Cosmetics PFAS red list and California Assembly Bill 2771(2022)Supplies the regulatory context the supplier leaves out, independently of the supplier. A cosmetics advocacy red list updated in August 2022 names Trifluoroacetyl Tripeptide-2 at CAS 64577-63-5 by name as a tier 1 PFAS, under the definition of a class of fluorinated organic chemicals containing at least one fully fluorinated carbon atom, and separately lists three other fluorinated cosmetic peptides. California's Assembly Bill 2771 uses that same definition and bars the manufacture or sale of cosmetics with intentionally added PFAS from January 1, 2025. A trifluoroacetyl group is a fully fluorinated carbon attached to a carbonyl, so the trifluoroacetylated peptide is captured. Eleven US states have enacted such bans, five of them effective January 1, 2025, and seven using the same class definition. The reformulation launched about three months before that date. This is a timeline and an in-scope determination, not a supplier-stated rationale, and the two should not be confused.
- European cosmetic ingredient records for the two substances(2026)The two ingredients hold separate European records with different declared functions: this one at record 16528 for skin conditioning, and the trifluoroacetylated form at record 16403 for skin conditioning and skin protecting. The European inventory entry for the trifluoroacetylated form, reference 59830 with a source date of October 15, 2010, describes it as a reaction product of trifluoroacetic acid and Tripeptide-2, establishing the parent and derivative relationship in the regulatory record rather than in anyone's marketing. Neither entry records a CAS or EC number, and neither carries an annex entry or restriction.
Beyond these, 47 records are indexed. Browse the records