Sexual Health · 10mg × 10 vials
In plain terms: Melanotan II is a research compound - oral, fast-acting and well studied.
Melanotan II is a synthetic cyclic heptapeptide analog of endogenous alpha-melanocyte stimulating hormone (alpha-MSH). It's a non-selective melanocortin receptor agonist, hitting MC1R, MC3R, MC4R, and MC5R. The tanning effect comes from MC1R activation on melanocytes in the skin, which upregulates eumelanin synthesis (the dark pigment) and shifts the melanocyte's output away from the lighter pheomelanin. UV exposure still has to do the actual triggering of tan formation, MT2 just turns up the gain on the response, so users tan faster, deeper, and with less sun damage required for a given level of pigmentation. The libido/spontaneous-erection side effect is driven by MC4R activation in the central nervous system, the same receptor PT-141/Vyleesi targets selectively. The nausea, flushing, and yawning are MC3R/MC4R crossover effects. MT2 was originally synthesized in the 1980s by Mac Hadley and Victor Hruby's lab at the University of Arizona, Tucson, as part of a research program looking for a sunless-tanning agent that could reduce melanoma risk in fair-skinned populations. It was never developed into an approved drug, the patent expired, and it became one of the original gray-market research peptides. PT-141 (bremelanotide) was synthesized from MT2 by stripping the tanning function and keeping the sexual-response arm; MT2 is essentially the older, broader cousin that does both at once.
Typical dose ranges by experience level - educational reference. Message us and we tailor it to you.
250 mcg is the smallest dose that produces a meaningful response. Nausea, flushing, and yawning hit hardest on the first 2-3 doses and tachyphylax fast (the side effect adapts faster than the desired effect), so first-timers should pin at bedtime to sleep through the worst of it. At 5 mg/ml recon (10 mg vial + 2 ml BAC), 250 mcg = 5 IU on a U-100 pin, 500 mcg = 10 IU. Jordan's most-quoted starter protocol in DM: "250 mcg/day subcutaneous at bedtime, advance to 500 mcg-1 mg/day during the 6-8 week loading phase, then drop to 500 mcg 2x/week for maintenance."
Maintenance phase is where MT2 actually pays off, you stop pinning daily and just pin 2-3× per week to hold the tan. Sun exposure (or tanning bed) is still required to keep pigmentation alive, MT2 alone in a windowless room won't hold a tan. Most users find 500 mcg twice weekly is the sweet spot for hold.
Advanced users running MT2 seasonally for several years know their personal loading floor (some hit deep tan at 250 mcg, some need 1 mg) and time the cycle to start ~6 weeks before expected sun exposure peaks (spring break, summer holiday, beach trip). Long-term heavy users get noticeable mole darkening, freckle deepening, and sometimes new freckle formation, which is the cosmetic signal that systemic melanocortin exposure is meaningful. This is also why annual dermatology check-ins are the smart practice for advanced users, not because MT2 causes melanoma but because it makes baseline mole monitoring harder.
Straight talk - what people actually report, and what the studies measured.
Peer-reviewed studies and clinical guidelines - tap any to read the source.
original Hadley/Levine UA Tucson phase 1 in humans, established 250-500 mcg dose-response
Read study ↗PubMedDorr RT et al, Evaluation of melanotan-II, a superpotent cyclic melanotropic peptide in a pilot phase-I clinical study, Life Sci 1996early human PK and AE profile, documented spontaneous erections
Read study ↗PubMedHadley ME, Discovery that a melanocortin regulates sexual functions in male and female humans, Peptides 2005Hadley's retrospective on MC4R sexual effect discovery from MT2 research
Read study ↗PubMedCardones AR, Grichnik JM, alpha-Melanocyte-stimulating hormone-induced eruptive nevi, Arch Dermatol 2009eruptive nevi case report on MT2 user
Read study ↗PubMedLangan EA et al, Melanotropic peptides: more than just 'Barbie drugs' and 'sun-tan jabs'?, Br J Dermatol 2010melanoma case series and safety review
Read study ↗PubMedHabbema L et al, Risks of unregulated use of alpha-melanocyte-stimulating hormone analogues: a review, Int J Dermatol 2017comprehensive AE review including PRES, rhabdomyolysis case reports
Read study ↗Aggregated sentiment from public forums & socials - real-world reports, not individual endorsements.
Nausea: dominant first-dose complaint, mostly resolves by dose 3-5. Community standard mitigation is bedtime dosing (sleep through it), 250 mcg start dose, and dosing on an empty or light stomach
- Divergence: literature pegs nausea at 50-70% in trials, community reports closer to 80-90% of first-timers feel some nausea but the rapid tachyphylaxis means it's almost never a long-term retention issue (unlike PT-141 where first-dose nausea drops more people permanently)
Flushing / face going red: very common during loading, "tomato face" 30-90 min post-dose, settles after 1-2 weeks
Mole darkening / freckle deepening: universal at meaningful doses, becomes visible within 2-4 weeks of loading. Community treats this as a normal signal but flags any new asymmetric or irregular moles
Spontaneous erections / increased libido: reported as a "side effect" by tan-focused users and the "main effect" by those running MT2 primarily for sexual response. Persistent ambient libido bump for 24-48 hours post-dose
Decreased appetite: noticeable enough during loading that some users describe a 5-10 lb weight loss as a side bonus
Route: SubQ injection
Injection site: lower abdomen, outer thigh, or love-handle pinch. Rotate sites. Pinch-and-pin, 90-degree, standard SubQ technique.
Storage: refrigerated, stable 30-45 days reconstituted. Unmixed vials are stable at room temp short-term; refrigerate for long storage. Light-sensitive, keep in original box or wrapped.
Notes: Pin shortly before UV exposure (within 30-60 minutes of going outside or hitting a tanning bed) since UV is what actually triggers the pigmentation cascade. Pinning indoors with no sun exposure burns through the compound without building tan. Bedtime dosing is a community standard for the nausea reason (sleep through it), but bedtime + no morning sun is suboptimal for tan building. Compromise is bedtime dosing during loading, then re-time to pre-sun once nausea has tachyphylaxed.