Skin darkening in 3 men
A 1996 pilot study in 3 healthy men found more pigment in 2 of them a week after a short course of injections.2
Peptide Guide · Skin, hair and tanning
Melanotan II
Melanotan 2, MT-2, MT-II
Melanotan II was built to tan skin. In its first human test, researchers noticed something else, and that side effect went on to become a separate medicine.
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- Studied for
- Skin pigmentation and erectile function
- Evidence
- Early human data
- Taken as
- Injection, usually from unregulated sellers
Melanotan II, in short
Melanotan II is a lab-made, ring-shaped peptide that copies alpha-MSH, the hormone that tells skin to make pigment. It switches on several melanocortin receptors at once, so it darkens skin and also triggers erections, nausea and yawning. A 1996 pilot in 3 men reported darker skin and erections; later work in 20 men reported erections and more desire. Case reports since then describe new moles, melanoma, priapism and kidney injury in people using it.
Medically reviewed by Robert Lufkin, MD (opens in a new tab)
Chief Medical Officer, Vitals Vault · Updated · 16 sources
Before you consider Melanotan II
How does Melanotan II work?
It copies a natural hormone and acts in the skin and the brain, so its effects reach beyond tanning.
Darkens skin
In a pilot of 3 men, two had more pigment in the face, upper body and buttock a week after a short course.2
Acts in the brain
In 20 men with erectile dysfunction, injections caused erections without stimulation in 17 and more desire than placebo.3
Side effects come along
Nausea and yawning were frequent, and the highest dose tested caused sleepiness and fatigue.32
Melanotan II benefits: what it is studied for
The studies behind Melanotan II are small and old, and every card here comes from people. They show it does something. They do not show it is safe or useful for tanning.
- Human study01
- Human study02
Erections in men with ED
In 17 of 20 men with erectile dysfunction, Melanotan II produced an erection without sexual stimulation. The men averaged 41 minutes at more than 80% tip rigidity.3
- Human study03
Sexual desire
Increased desire was reported after 13 of 19 Melanotan II doses compared with 4 of 21 placebo doses.3
What the research shows
Early human data- 1 · Cells in a labNot cited
This guide cites no findings at this level.
Shows a mechanism
- 2 · AnimalsNot cited
This guide cites no findings at this level.
Shows an effect in a body
- 3 · People Studied
Only tiny studies: 3 men in a tanning pilot, and 20 men with erectile dysfunction, 17 of whom had erections. Later evidence is case reports of harms.234
Shows it works in people
None of the sources cited here includes a large randomized trial of Melanotan II for tanning. The human data they contain are a pilot study in 3 volunteers and erectile dysfunction research in 20 men, reviewed in 2000. Since then, safety reports have come from case studies of people who bought it online.234
The full guide to Melanotan II
The tanning study with an unexpected side effect
In the mid-1990s, three healthy men in Arizona volunteered for a small pilot study of a new tanning peptide. The researchers were watching for darker skin, and two of the three did get darker on the face, upper body and buttocks. What they wrote up alongside it was stranger. A bout of stretching and yawning seemed to arrive together with spontaneous erections, which came and went for one to five hours after a dose.
The peptide was Melanotan II, published in 1996 by the same University of Arizona group that had designed Melanotan I. Where Melanotan I is a full-length, linear copy of the pigment hormone alpha-MSH, Melanotan II is a shortened version folded into a ring. Seven amino acids are locked in place by a chemical bridge, a shape that made it superpotent in laboratory tests and hard for the body’s enzymes to break down.
The pilot study also mapped the first side effects. Mild nausea showed up at most dose levels, and at the highest dose tested one of two men became notably sleepy and fatigued. The authors concluded that Melanotan II had tanning activity in people after only a short course. They also had a new question on their hands, and it would end up shaping the next twenty years of the story.29
How Melanotan II works: one key, many locks
Melanocortins are a family of hormones, and they act through a family of receptors spread across the body. MC1R sits on melanocytes, the pigment cells of the skin, and controls tanning. Other members of the family sit in the brain, where they help shape sexual response. Natural alpha-MSH reaches several of these receptors, but it is short-lived.
Melanotan II is a non-selective melanocortin receptor agonist. Think of it as a master key cut to open several locks in the same building. It opens the pigment lock in the skin, and it opens locks in the brain that govern arousal. Because its ring shape resists breakdown, it keeps the doors open longer than the natural hormone would.
That breadth helps explain the profile. The tan, the erections, the increase in desire, the nausea and the yawning can all be traced to one molecule touching several receptors, though individual responses differ and the studies cited here do not pin down the mechanism of every side effect. Anyone who takes Melanotan II for a tan is also taking a drug that can act on the brain.311915
Melanotan II for tanning: what the studies show
The controlled human evidence for Melanotan II as a tanning agent among the sources cited here is the 1996 pilot, in which two of three men had measurably more pigment one week after their last injection, confirmed by light reflectance and by eye. None of these sources provides a larger controlled tanning trial, long-term safety data or evidence that a Melanotan II tan protects skin from the sun.
Compare that with its sibling. Melanotan I was carried forward in tanning research and later, as afamelanotide, into rare-disease trials. Melanotan II was taken into erectile dysfunction research instead, and among the sources here its tanning evidence stops at three people.
Yet Melanotan II is the one that spread. By 2009 the BMJ was publishing on melanotan use in the general population. Dermatologists reporting a 2014 case described it as prevalent among young people at fitness centers, and a 2021 report from Miami describes it as available on the internet for a sunless tan and offered in unlicensed clinics as a sexual stimulant. Reports describe it in wide unregulated use, with far less controlled human evidence behind it than its sibling.
One point of confusion is worth clearing up. A 2017 review describes afamelanotide as the only alpha-MSH analogue approved for medical use, and only for a few narrow indications. Afamelanotide is chemically Melanotan I. No form of Melanotan II has ever been licensed for tanning, and the afamelanotide trials say nothing about it.291357414
Melanotan II and erections: the 2000 crossover study
The Arizona team followed the side effect. They gave Melanotan II and placebo, in random order and without either side knowing which was which, to 20 men with erectile dysfunction, some with psychological causes and some with physical ones. Penile rigidity was recorded for six hours with a device called RigiScan, and the men filled in questionnaires on desire and side effects.
Without any sexual stimulation, 17 of the 20 men had an erection after Melanotan II. During monitoring they averaged 41 minutes at more than 80% rigidity at the tip. Increased sexual desire was reported after 68% of Melanotan II doses, against 19% of placebo doses.
The cost showed up in the same data. Nausea and yawning were frequent, and at one of the doses studied, 12.9% of men had severe nausea. The authors called Melanotan II a potent initiator of erection and said melanocortin drugs deserved further study. That recommendation is exactly what happened next.3
The side effect that became a medicine
Melanotan II did two things researchers wanted, bundled with effects nobody wanted. Over the next two decades, the two useful jobs of this peptide family ended up in two separate licensed drugs.
On the sexual side, the same Arizona researchers reported in 2006 that a new Melanotan II analogue called PT-141 had finished early trials and was heading to pivotal ones. A 2012 poison center report described bremelanotide as a variation of Melanotan II designed specifically for sexual stimulation. In 2019, bremelanotide, sold as Vyleesi, was approved in the United States for premenopausal women with acquired, generalized hypoactive sexual desire disorder, low desire that causes marked distress.
On the pigment side, the job went to the other branch of the family. Melanotan I, which acts mainly on the pigment receptor, became afamelanotide, the drug inside the Scenesse implant for erythropoietic protoporphyria. The two licensed medicines have distinct approved uses, each for one defined group of patients under a label, although their biological and side effects can overlap: bremelanotide, for instance, can also cause nausea and skin darkening.
Seen that way, Melanotan II is related to afamelanotide, which is Melanotan I, and was the starting point for bremelanotide: one molecule doing both jobs that its licensed relatives are approved for separately. People buying it online for a tan are choosing the version that bundles both actions, with the side effects of each, and without the extensive clinical testing and regulatory review behind the approved medicines.91015144
Melanotan II, moles and melanoma
Because Melanotan II stimulates pigment cells all over the body, moles are the first place dermatologists look. In 2009, the British Journal of Dermatology published a report of eruptive melanocytic naevi, a sudden crop of new moles, after melanotan injections. More reports followed.
A 2014 case report shows why. A 20-year-old woman with fair, burn-prone skin had done a three- to four-week course of self-injected Melanotan II to boost her sunbed tan. Three months later a dermatologist found a suspicious black lesion on her buttock, and her skin was intensely pigmented all over. The lesion was a melanoma.
A 2017 review in the International Journal of Dermatology pulled the threads together. With both Melanotan I and II, case reports describe changes in existing moles and newly appearing dysplastic, or atypical, moles. Four reports describe melanomas arising from existing moles during or shortly after melanotan use.
The same reviewers are careful about what that means. Conclusive evidence linking melanotan to melanoma is lacking, and many users are part of a tanning culture that includes sunbeds, which carry their own risk. Case reports cannot tell you how often something happens. They can tell you it has happened, which is why anyone who has used melanotan should have a full skin check.654
Melanotan II side effects beyond the skin
Given the 1996 and 2000 findings, priapism, a painful erection that will not go down, was predictable. A 2019 case in BMJ Case Reports described a man with low-flow priapism after injecting melanotan into his abdomen. Draining and flushing the penis and a medicine injected to tighten its blood vessels worked without surgery, but four weeks later he had not recovered erectile function. A 2021 report described a man whose priapism did not respond to the same steps and needed surgery to relieve it.
In 2012, a Chicago poison center reported a 39-year-old man who injected Melanotan II bought online, at several times the starting amount he had been told to use, to darken his skin in winter. Within two hours he had body aches, heavy sweating, anxiety, dilated pupils, tremor and a racing heart. His creatinine, a kidney marker, was already raised on arrival, and over the next 12 hours his muscle enzyme levels climbed steeply, a sign of rhabdomyolysis, the breakdown of muscle tissue. He spent three days in intensive care and improved.
One detail from that case matters more than the rest. The doctors tested the vial by mass spectrometry and confirmed it really was Melanotan II, so the reaction cannot simply be blamed on a mislabeled product.
Kidneys appear again in a 2020 Swedish report of a renal infarction, a blocked blood supply to part of the kidney, most likely attributed to Melanotan II. A 2013 letter in Annals of Internal Medicine linked melanotan to posterior reversible encephalopathy syndrome, or PRES, a brain swelling syndrome that can cause headache, confusion, seizures and vision changes. FDA’s 2026 compounding page lists melanoma, PRES, sympathomimetic toxidrome and priapism among published serious events, plus a risk of immune reactions to the peptide.8710111216
What we actually know in people
The early planned research cited here involves 3 men in the 1996 tanning pilot and 20 men in the erectile dysfunction work reviewed in 2000. The pilot reported darker skin and spontaneous erections; the erectile research reported erections and more desire. Nausea and yawning were the common price.
Among the sources here, everything since comes from case reports, letters and reviews of people who bought it outside medicine. That kind of evidence is good at spotting rare and serious harms and useless at measuring how often they happen. Because the reports do not tell us how many people use Melanotan II, they cannot say what fraction develop new moles, priapism or kidney injury.
That leaves an unusual imbalance. Melanotan II has limited human evidence of pigment and erectile effects: its tanning data rest on two of three men in one pilot, so how reliably it works and how safe it is over time remain unknown. The documented harms, meanwhile, run from moles to the brain.23416
If you have used Melanotan II: the checks that matter
Symptoms come first. An erection lasting four hours or longer needs emergency care, and dark urine with muscle pain, or a severe headache with vision changes, needs urgent assessment. Beyond that, a skin check matters more than any single lab. A full skin exam, ideally with photographs of moles, sets a baseline so new or changing moles can be spotted early. That matters more after melanotan use because the peptide darkens existing moles as well as normal skin.
Kidney markers can add context, because the serious case reports keep returning to the kidneys. Creatinine, a waste product of muscle, was raised on arrival in the 2012 poisoning case and improved with treatment, while a muscle enzyme climbed steeply. eGFR, the estimated rate at which your kidneys filter blood, is a useful baseline, though it can mislead while creatinine is changing fast. Beyond that, which tests make sense depends on your symptoms, exam and risk factors; these reports do not set out a routine screening protocol.
At Vitals Vault, care starts with a blood panel at Quest Diagnostics and a licensed clinician’s review of your results and history. A clinician can talk through your skin check and any tests that are actually indicated.41011812
Where Melanotan II stands in 2026
Melanotan II is not an FDA-approved drug for any use. FDA’s compounding safety page lists it among bulk substances that may present significant safety risks, citing immunogenicity and published case reports of serious adverse events.
A 2017 dermatology review notes that several national health organizations have issued safety warnings about melanotan I and II. Its licensed relative, bremelanotide, is a different peptide with its own narrow label.16415
What this means for you
Melanotan II works. It tans skin, it triggers erections and it makes many people nauseous, all through one master key that opens several of the body’s melanocortin locks. Its licensed relatives are each approved for one of those jobs in one defined group of patients. The original was left behind after a few small early studies and then sold online.
If you are weighing it for a tan, the useful question is not whether it will darken your skin. It is whether a darker shade is worth a drug that also acts on your brain and your moles, and who will be watching those moles afterward.2394
What to expect with Melanotan II
In the 1996 pilot, darker skin was measured a week after the course ended, while erections came on within hours of a dose and lasted up to several hours. In the 2000 study, effects were tracked over six hours after each injection.
The case reports describe the other timeline. Priapism and the poisoning case began within hours of an injection, and the 2014 melanoma was found three months after a course. Anyone who has used it should book a skin check and know which symptoms need emergency care.238105
Key Melanotan II studies
Dorr et al., 19962
Pilot phase I study · 3 healthy men
More pigment in 2 of 3; spontaneous erections with yawning; nausea at most doses
Limits: Tiny, short, single-blind
Wessells et al., 20003
Double-blind, placebo-controlled crossover · 20 men with erectile dysfunction
Erections in 17 of 20 without stimulation; desire up after 68% of doses vs 19% on placebo
Limits: Small; severe nausea in 12.9% at one dose
Nelson et al., 201210
Case report · 1 man, internet-bought Melanotan II confirmed by testing
Sympathomimetic toxicity, rhabdomyolysis and kidney injury; recovered after intensive care
Limits: Single case; large dose
Hjuler and Lorentzen, 20145
Case report · 1 woman, aged 20, also using sunbeds
Melanoma found three months after a self-injected course
Limits: Cannot show cause; sunbed use
Habbema et al., 20174
Review · Published reports on melanotan I and II
Mole changes, new atypical moles and four melanomas arising in moles
Limits: Case reports only; causality unproven
Case reports · 2 men with priapism after injection
One lost erectile function for at least 4 weeks; one needed surgery
Limits: Single cases
Melanotan II myths and evidence
Melanotan II is just a stronger Melanotan I
It is a different, ring-shaped molecule that acts on several melanocortin receptors, not mainly the pigment one. That is why it has documented erectile effects and commonly caused nausea and yawning in small trials. Melanotan I, as afamelanotide, has a different profile, though it can also cause nausea.932
The scary reports all come from contaminated vials
Contamination is a real risk with unregulated powders, but in a 2012 case of rhabdomyolysis and kidney injury, mass spectrometry confirmed the vial was Melanotan II, so the harm cannot simply be blamed on a mislabeled product.104
Melanotan II is the same thing as PT-141
No. PT-141, now bremelanotide, was developed from Melanotan II as a separate analogue aimed at sexual function, and it is a licensed medicine for one specific use. Melanotan II is the unlicensed parent.91015
A Melanotan tan protects you from the sun
No study cited here has tested whether Melanotan II protects against the sun. The 2014 melanoma case involved a woman who combined it with sunbeds, and reviewers note that melanotan use is part of a tanning culture in some groups.254
How is Melanotan II taken?
Melanotan II dosage
There is no approved Melanotan II dose. Early trials in men gave small weight-based injections in a research unit, and nausea was common at the doses studied. The table describes those historical research schedules, not a recommended regimen. A dose from a vial of unknown content cannot be calculated safely. Your clinician decides any use.213
Typical Melanotan II dosage
No Melanotan II dose is approved anywhere. The only human doses come from small University of Arizona trials in the 1990s, which gave weight-based injections to healthy men and to men with erectile dysfunction, with nausea and yawning as common side effects. These are research doses, not a regimen, and a clinician decides any use.
Already have a prescribed dose? The peptide dosage calculator turns it into the units to draw on an insulin syringe.
Human trial · Injection under the skin
0.01 to 0.03 mg/kg (dose escalation)
5 doses in total, every other day over 2 weeks; weekday injections alternated Melanotan II with saline placebo2
3 healthy men in a pilot phase I study. The authors named 0.025 mg/kg as the dose for future studies; 0.03 mg/kg caused moderate (grade II) sleepiness and fatigue in one of the two men who reached it.
Human trial · Injection
0.025 mg/kg
Single dose per test session, crossed over with placebo13
Men with erectile dysfunction, monitored for 6 hours. About 1 in 8 had severe nausea at this dose.
Is Melanotan II right for you?
A clinician makes the call. These are the questions they will ask first.
It may suit
- Adults who want to understand the evidence before deciding about a tanning peptide
- People who have already used melanotan and want a skin check and baseline labs
Talk to a clinician first if you are
- Any personal or family history of melanoma, or many moles
- Pregnant or breastfeeding
- High blood pressure or heart disease
- Kidney disease
- Priapism or blood-clotting conditions
- A product obtained online without a prescription
Vitals Vault peptide care starts with a blood panel and a licensed clinician, and ends with a retest.
Get early access to peptide careMelanotan II vs Melanotan I
| Attribute | Melanotan II | Melanotan I |
|---|---|---|
| Shape | Cyclic, seven amino acids | Linear, full-length alpha-MSH analogue |
| Receptors | Several melanocortin receptors, non-selective | Mainly MC1R (pigment) |
| Reported effects | Skin darkening, erections, nausea, yawning | Skin darkening; nausea also reported with the implant |
| Related prescription drug | Bremelanotide (Vyleesi), a separate peptide derived from it | Afamelanotide (Scenesse) for EPP, the same peptide |
| FDA status | Not approved. On FDA’s safety-risk list | Not approved for tanning |
One receptor family, many jobs
A drug that acts in several tissues changes several things at once. The tan, the erections and the nausea come as a package, so the unwanted effects arrive with the wanted one.
For anyone who has used melanotan, the practical job is watching what it may have changed: moles first, then symptoms that need care.423810
What else moves the same system
- 01Skin checksA dermatologist can photograph and track moles, which matters for anyone who has used melanotan.
- 02Keep protecting your skinNo study here shows a melanotan tan protects against the sun, so keep using sun protection.
- 03Know the emergency signsAn erection lasting four hours or longer needs emergency care.
- 04Kidney markersThe serious case reports keep returning to the kidneys, so a clinician may want baseline kidney tests.
Labs to check with Melanotan II
A blood test before you start and a retest after shows what actually changed for you. It is how Vitals Vault approaches every treatment.
- TestA baseline panel at Quest Diagnostics.
- DecideA licensed clinician reviews your history and results.
- RetestThe same markers again, side by side.
- Vitamin D (25-OH)General context for people who avoid the sun; a clinician decides whether it is indicated.
- Kidney function (eGFR)Case reports link Melanotan II to muscle breakdown with kidney injury and to a kidney infarction, so a kidney baseline matters.
- CreatinineWas elevated at presentation in a reported Melanotan II poisoning and improved with treatment; a simple, repeatable kidney marker.
- Liver enzymes (ALT)Part of a metabolic panel. Checks the liver before and during any new prescription.
Is Melanotan II FDA approved?
No. Melanotan II is not FDA-approved. FDA’s compounding safety page lists it as a bulk substance that may present significant safety risks, noting a risk of immunogenicity and published case reports of serious adverse events including melanoma, posterior reversible encephalopathy syndrome, sympathomimetic toxidrome and priapism.16
Melanotan II timeline
1996
Pilot phase I study shows Melanotan II has tanning activity and triggers erections in healthy men.2
2000
Crossover study in men with erectile dysfunction reports erections in 17 of 20.3
2006
Its developers report that PT-141, a Melanotan II analogue for sexual function, is heading to late-stage trials.9
2009
Case report of eruptive melanocytic naevi (new moles) after melanotan injection.6
2012
Poison center report of sympathomimetic toxicity and rhabdomyolysis after an internet-bought Melanotan II injection.10
2014
Case report of melanoma in a young woman after a self-injected Melanotan II course combined with sunbeds.5
2019
Bremelanotide, the PT-141 descendant, is approved in the US as Vyleesi for low sexual desire in premenopausal women.15
April 2026
FDA’s compounding page lists Melanotan II and cites published case reports of serious adverse events.16
Melanotan II questions
What is Melanotan II used for?
Melanotan II is sold online for tanning and, in some unlicensed clinics, as a sexual stimulant. In research it was studied for skin pigmentation and erectile dysfunction. It is not FDA-approved for any use.
What are the benefits of Melanotan II?
In small 1990s studies it darkened skin in 2 of 3 volunteers and produced erections in 17 of 20 men with erectile dysfunction, with more reported desire than on placebo. None of the sources here includes a larger tanning trial or shows that it protects skin.
What are the side effects of Melanotan II?
Early trials reported nausea, yawning, and sleepiness at higher doses. Case reports describe new moles, melanoma, priapism, rhabdomyolysis with kidney injury and other serious events. FDA’s page lists melanoma, posterior reversible encephalopathy syndrome, sympathomimetic toxidrome and priapism.
Does Melanotan II cause melanoma?
That is not proven. Case reports describe melanomas arising in people who used it, often alongside sunbeds, and a dermatology review says conclusive evidence linking the two is lacking. Anyone who has used melanotan should have their skin checked.
How does Melanotan II work?
It mimics alpha-MSH and activates several melanocortin receptors. In skin that increases pigment. In the brain it affects sexual response and causes nausea and yawning.
Melanotan II vs Melanotan I, what is the difference?
Melanotan I acts mainly on the pigment receptor and is the same peptide as the prescription drug afamelanotide. Melanotan II hits several receptors, which adds sexual effects and more side effects. Neither is approved for tanning.
Melanotan II vs PT-141, what is the difference?
PT-141, now called bremelanotide, was developed from Melanotan II to target sexual function. FDA approved it as Vyleesi for a specific type of low sexual desire in premenopausal women. Melanotan II is unapproved and is not the same molecule.
Can Melanotan II cause priapism?
Yes, case reports describe ischemic priapism, a painful erection that will not go down, after Melanotan II injections. One man needed surgery, and another had not regained erectile function four weeks later. It is a medical emergency.
What is the Melanotan II dosage?
There is no approved dose. Early trials in men used small weight-based injections under clinical supervision, and nausea was common. The research schedules in the table on this page are historical study protocols, not a recommended regimen, and a clinician decides any use.
Is Melanotan II FDA approved?
No. FDA lists it among compounding substances that may present significant safety risks and cites published case reports of serious adverse events.
Can I get Melanotan II through Vitals Vault?
Vitals Vault is opening clinician-led peptide care that starts with a blood test. Join the peptides waitlist to hear first. A licensed clinician reviews your history and labs and decides whether Melanotan II is right for you.
Peptides, prescribed and measured
Vitals Vault is opening peptide care that starts with your blood work, is prescribed by licensed US clinicians and ends with a retest. Join the waitlist to hear first.
- Prescription only
- Licensed US clinicians
- Quest Diagnostics labs
Keep reading
Full Peptide Guide- Melanotan IA synthetic version of the pigment hormone alpha-MSH, studied for tanning. As afamelanotide, the same peptide is a prescription implant for one rare disease.
- PT-141Bremelanotide, an FDA-approved melanocortin peptide for low sexual desire in premenopausal women, sold as Vyleesi.
- GHK-CuA copper-binding tripeptide found in human blood, studied for skin repair, collagen and hair.
- FDA peptide update 2026What FDA’s October 2026 decision on six peptides means for you.
Sources
- 1. Wessells H, et al. Synthetic melanotropic peptide initiates erections in men with psychogenic erectile dysfunction: double-blind, placebo controlled crossover study. J Urol. 1998 (opens in a new tab)
- 2. Dorr RT, et al. Evaluation of melanotan-II, a superpotent cyclic melanotropic peptide in a pilot phase-I clinical study. Life Sci. 1996 (opens in a new tab)
- 3. Wessells H, et al. Melanocortin receptor agonists, penile erection, and sexual motivation: human studies with Melanotan II. Int J Impot Res. 2000 (opens in a new tab)
- 4. Habbema L, et al. Risks of unregulated use of alpha-melanocyte-stimulating hormone analogues: a review. Int J Dermatol. 2017 (opens in a new tab)
- 5. Hjuler KF, et al. Melanoma associated with the use of melanotan-II. Dermatology. 2014 (opens in a new tab)
- 6. Cousen P, et al. Eruptive melanocytic naevi following melanotan injection. Br J Dermatol. 2009 (opens in a new tab)
- 7. Mallory CW, et al. Melanotan Tanning Injection: A Rare Cause of Priapism. Sex Med. 2021 (opens in a new tab)
- 8. Dreyer BA, et al. Melanotan-induced priapism: a hard-earned tan. BMJ Case Rep. 2019 (opens in a new tab)
- 9. Hadley ME, Dorr RT. Melanocortin peptide therapeutics: historical milestones, clinical studies and commercialization. Peptides. 2006 (opens in a new tab)
- 10. Nelson ME, et al. Melanotan II injection resulting in systemic toxicity and rhabdomyolysis. Clin Toxicol (Phila). 2012 (opens in a new tab)
- 11. Peters B, et al. Melanotan II: a possible cause of renal infarction: review of the literature and case report. CEN Case Rep. 2020 (opens in a new tab)
- 12. Kaski D, et al. Melanotan and the posterior reversible encephalopathy syndrome. Ann Intern Med. 2013 (opens in a new tab)
- 13. Evans-Brown M, et al. Use of melanotan I and II in the general population. BMJ. 2009 (opens in a new tab)
- 14. Fabrikant J, et al. A review and update on melanocyte stimulating hormone therapy: afamelanotide. J Drugs Dermatol. 2013 (opens in a new tab)
- 15. Dhillon S, Keam SJ. Bremelanotide: First Approval. Drugs. 2019 (opens in a new tab)
- 16. FDA. Certain bulk drug substances for use in compounding that may present significant safety risks (current as of April 22, 2026) (opens in a new tab)