GHK-Cu

• Skin and tissue repair (injectable, unproven)recommended

  Community practice, not from a label or trial: 1 mg a day for 2 weeks then 2 mg a day for 2 weeks, 5 days a week. No human trial supports injection.

• Community practice, not from a label or trial: 1 mg a day for weeks 1-2, then 2 mg a day for weeks 3-4, subcutaneous, in 30-day cycles; the same page says "commonly ~1-2 mg/day SC, ~5 days/week". It calls injectable dosing "not trial-validated".
• Topical use (about 1-3% serums or creams) is the better-supported route per the same page.

Route: Subcutaneous (community figure); topical is the studied route.

Timing: No reliable figure found in the sources; ask your prescriber or supplier.

• Placeholder 10 mg vial plus 2 mL gives 5 mg/mL, so 2 mg is 40 units. This is arithmetic, not a sourced instruction.

No reliable figure found in the sources; ask your prescriber or supplier.

30-day cycles followed by a rest period; rest length not stated.

Why:

• Copper is cumulative, so the source advises against stacking copper products or running long uninterrupted courses.

• Never draw into the same syringe as another compound; use separate syringes and distinct injection sites.
• Copper chelators such as penicillamine and trientine may reduce effectiveness (community page).

Not an approved drug. FDA removed injectable GHK-Cu from Category 2 on April 15 2026 (nominations withdrawn), which does not make it compoundable; the advisory committee has it on a later agenda (reported by Feb 2027). NPR says US compounders are not technically allowed to offer it for injection. Check current status.

Common side effects:

• Experts quoted by NPR name copper overload and a possible immune reaction as risks of injecting it.
• A dermatologist-physician in the same article describes injection-site irritation and infections, and liver problems (raised enzymes and copper) in some who self-injected; whether the peptide or impurities caused them is unclear.
• Unregulated suppliers: no assurance of dose or even that the product is a copper peptide.

Stop and call your prescriber if:

• Yellow skin or eyes, dark urine or severe fatigue
• Spreading redness, swelling or fever at an injection site
• Rash or trouble breathing

Labs and monitoring:

• The community page suggests serum copper, ceruloplasmin, zinc and a metabolic panel every 3 months. Avoid with Wilson's disease or copper-metabolism disorders (same page).

No reliable source names a biomarker for this compound.

• PMC4508379: Pickart 2015 review of GHK in skin regeneration (abstract: animal, cell and topical cosmetic data)
• NPR/WUNC (Sept 2026): copper peptides go from creams to injections ahead of the science
• The Peptide Column GHK-Cu page: community injection protocol (secondary source)
• Frier Levitt: FDA removes 12 peptides from Category 2 (April 2026)
• McDermott: advisory committee backs most peptides; GHK-Cu review pending