Home / Compounds / Melanotan II
Melanotan II
Synthetic melanocortin receptor agonist · MT-II, sold as tanning injections and nasal sprays
- UK status
- Unlicensed medicine
- Availability
- Illegal to sell in the UK
- Evidence base
- Limited early human studies
- Controlled drug
- No
Sequence
Cyclic peptide. Verify notation against the literature before publishing it.
The short version
What it does
Darkens your skin without sun. Sold as a tanning injection or nasal spray.
How it does it
Your skin makes pigment when a hormone tells it to. This copies that instruction, so pigment gets made whether you have been in the sun or not.
The catch
It does not only affect skin colour, because the same switches exist elsewhere in the body including the brain. Doctors have reported moles changing in people using it, which makes spotting skin cancer harder. Selling it here is illegal.
Everything below goes into the detail, with sources.
Melanotan II is the peptide in this register with the longest history of regulatory warnings in the UK, and it has nothing to do with weight or recovery. It is sold to make people tan.
At a glance
- Compound type
- Cyclic peptide
- Drug class
- Melanocortin receptor agonist
- Marketed for
- Tanning without sun exposure
- Sold as
- Injection, and nasal spray
- Human evidence
- Limited early research. Never carried through to licensing.
- UK status
- Unlicensed. Selling it is illegal, and the MHRA has warned repeatedly.
- Related licensed drug
- Afamelanotide, for a rare condition. Not the same product.
- In sport
- Unapproved substance, so would fall under WADA S0. Verify with UKAD.
01What it is
Melanotan II is a synthetic analogue of alpha-melanocyte-stimulating hormone, the signal that tells pigment cells in the skin to produce melanin. It is a cyclic peptide, meaning the chain is joined into a ring, which makes it more stable than the natural hormone.
02How it came about
Melanotan II came out of university research in the 1980s at Arizona, exploring analogues of alpha-melanocyte-stimulating hormone. The original interest was partly in whether inducing pigmentation could reduce skin cancer risk by reducing sun exposure, which is a reasonable hypothesis that was never established.
A separate strand of that work led to bremelanotide, licensed in the US for a sexual desire disorder, and afamelanotide, licensed for a rare light-sensitivity condition. Melanotan II itself went nowhere clinically and everywhere commercially, sold online for cosmetic tanning for two decades despite repeated MHRA warnings.
03UK legal and licensing status
Melanotan II has no UK marketing authorisation. Selling it is illegal, and the MHRA has issued repeated public warnings against buying or using it. It is commonly sold online as an injectable or a nasal spray.
A separate licensed medicine, afamelanotide, exists for a specific rare condition and is sometimes confused with melanotan II in online discussion. They are not the same product and one does not legitimise the other.
04How it works
It activates melanocortin receptors, principally MC1R in pigment cells, which increases melanin production and darkens the skin without sun exposure. Melanocortin receptors also appear elsewhere in the body, including in the brain, which is the reason reported effects extend well beyond skin colour.
05What it is not
Claims that attach themselves to this compound and do not hold up.
- Not a licensed medicine. Selling it in the UK is illegal, and the MHRA has issued repeated public warnings.
- Not afamelanotide. A different, licensed product for a rare condition. Its existence does not legitimise this one.
- Not a sunscreen. Increasing melanin does not make skin safe in the sun, and no protective effect has been established.
- Not cosmetic-only in its effects. Melanocortin receptors appear elsewhere including the brain, which is why reported effects extend well beyond skin colour.
06What the evidence shows
Some early human research exists, which is more than can be said for BPC-157, but it is limited in scale and was not carried through to licensing. No regulator has assessed the compound as safe and effective for cosmetic tanning.
Effects on moles and existing skin lesions are a specific concern raised by dermatologists, and long-term data does not exist. Because it is injected and unregulated, sterility and dosing accuracy are additional unknowns.
07Reported harms
Reported effects in the literature and in case reports include nausea, facial flushing, spontaneous erections, and changes to the appearance of existing moles. Case reports have described new or changing melanocytic lesions in users, which matters because it can complicate the detection of skin cancer.
None of this comes with a frequency table, because there is no Summary of Product Characteristics for an unlicensed product.
08Interactions and cautions
No regulated data. Because it is unlicensed and often sold as a nasal spray, absorbed dose is unpredictable, which makes any interaction question unanswerable in practice.
09Stopping
Pigmentation fades. Changes to moles do not necessarily reverse, which is the concern that matters.
10Monitoring
Nothing formal, but dermatologists raise one specific point: anyone who has used it should be alert to changes in existing moles, and should mention its use if a lesion is ever assessed, because it can complicate the clinical picture.
11Questions worth asking
Take these to a doctor or pharmacist. A good clinician will not mind being asked, and the answers are specific to you in a way nothing on this page can be.
- Do I understand this may change existing moles, and complicate spotting skin cancer?
- If a doctor examines a mole, will I remember to tell them I have used this?
- Is there a cosmetic alternative that does not involve injecting an unlicensed drug?
12Common questions
Is melanotan legal in the UK?
It has no UK marketing authorisation and selling it is illegal. The MHRA has issued repeated warnings against buying or using it.
Does the nasal spray version avoid the risks?
No. It changes how much is absorbed and makes that even less predictable than injecting, which is the opposite of reassuring. The compound and its effects are the same.
Why do dermatologists warn about it specifically?
Because case reports describe new or changing moles in users. Anything that alters the appearance of pigmented lesions makes early detection of skin cancer harder, and that is a serious trade for a cosmetic effect.
Is it the same as the sex drive drug?
Related but not the same. Bremelanotide is a licensed medicine in the US derived from the same line of research. Melanotan II is unlicensed everywhere, and reported sexual side effects are why the two get conflated.
13Sources
Links go to the authoritative source. Where a document sits behind a paywall or moves around, the full citation is given so you can find it yourself.
- Warnings on unlicensed tanning injectionsMHRA
- Melanotan II case reportsPubMed
- Unlicensed medicines guidanceMHRA
- Skin cancer informationNHS
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