HomePeptide dosagesMelanotan II
Melanotan II dosage: chart, reported range and vial math
The amounts reported for Melanotan II are a 250 to 500 mcg test dose, then 100 to 200 mcg two or three times a week. The three small human studies, 23 men in all, dosed it by body weight for no longer than 2 weeks. It has never been approved, and FDA and Health Canada warn against it.
Melanotan II dosage chart
Reported range, not a label dosePick your vial size. Each row shows the dose in milligrams or micrograms, the volume to draw and the mark on a U-100 syringe.
| Stage | Dose | Volume | Syringe units |
|---|---|---|---|
| Test dose, low | 250 mcg | 0.075 mL | 7.5 units |
| Test dose, high | 500 mcg | 0.15 mL | 15 units |
| Maintenance, low | 100 mcg | 0.03 mL | 3 units Too small to read well |
| Maintenance, high | 200 mcg | 0.06 mL | 6 units |
Source Reported range, not a label dose. The small human studies dosed it by body weight. Vial math is arithmetic.
Which syringe fits each dose
For the 10 mg vial at 3.3333 mg/mL.
| Dose | Volume | Units | 0.3 mL syringe | 0.5 mL syringe | 1 mL syringe |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 250 mcg | 0.075 mL | 7.5 units | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| 500 mcg | 0.15 mL | 15 units | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| 100 mcg | 0.03 mL | 3 units | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| 200 mcg | 0.06 mL | 6 units | Yes | Yes | Yes |
How long a vial lasts
Whole doses in one vial. The row for the size picked above is marked.
| Vial | 250 mcg | 500 mcg | 100 mcg | 200 mcg |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10 mg vial | 40 doses | 20 doses | 100 doses | 50 doses |
How to mix a Melanotan II vial
These steps are for the 10 mg vial picked in the chart. Change the size there and the amounts here change with it.
- Wash your hands. Wipe the stopper of the peptide vial and the water vial with an alcohol swab.
- Draw 3 mL of bacteriostatic water into a syringe.
- Push the needle through the stopper of the peptide vial and let the water run slowly down the glass, not straight onto the powder.
- Swirl the vial gently until the powder is gone. Do not shake it.
- Write the date and 3.3333 mg/mL on the vial, then put it in the fridge.
| Vial | Bacteriostatic water | Concentration |
|---|---|---|
| 10 mg vial | 3 mL | 3.3333 mg/mL |
What Melanotan II is
Melanotan II is a synthetic cyclic seven-amino-acid analog of alpha-melanocyte stimulating hormone. In small human studies it darkened skin and caused erections. It has never been approved as a medicine. [1]
Other names: MT-II, Melanotan-II, Melanotan-2.
How it has been given to people: subcutaneous injection in the human studies.
What to know before reading a dose
- Never approved as a medicine in the US or Canada. FDA told consumers to stop using it in 2007 [11], and Health Canada lists it among seized unauthorized injectable peptides [12].
- All the controlled human data come from three small studies in men published from 1996 to 2000: 3, 10 and 10 men. The longest dosing period was 2 weeks.
- Every trial dose was worked out from body weight (mg/kg). The 6 mg injected in the rhabdomyolysis case report was a self-chosen amount, six times what the patient understood the starting dose to be, and not a studied dose.
- Case reports link use to melanoma, priapism, rhabdomyolysis and kidney injury. Case reports cannot prove cause, but FDA cites them as its safety concern [10].
Doses on record for Melanotan II
Every dose below was given in a human study or printed on an approved label, and each links to its source. Doses set by body weight are left that way.
| From | Where it was used | Dose | How often | For how long | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Human study | Pilot phase 1 study, subcutaneous injection, starting dose | 0.01 mg/kg | Melanotan II and saline on alternating days, Monday to Friday; 5 Melanotan II doses in all | 2 weeks | [1] |
| Human study | Pilot phase 1 study, subcutaneous injection, highest dose reached; it caused Grade II somnolence and fatigue in 1 of 2 men | 0.03 mg/kg | same schedule, raised in 0.005 mg/kg steps | 2 weeks | [1] |
| Human study | Pilot phase 1 study, subcutaneous injection, single dose the authors recommended for further phase 1 studies | 0.025 mg/kg | one dose a day (written in the abstract as 0.025 mg/kg/day) | not applicable (recommendation for later studies) | [1] |
| Human study | Double-blind placebo-controlled crossover study in psychogenic erectile dysfunction, given by injection (the abstract does not name the site) | 0.025 mg/kg | single injections in a crossover design; number not stated in the abstract | 6 hours of monitoring after each injection | [2] |
| Human study | Double-blind placebo-controlled crossover study in erectile dysfunction with organic risk factors, subcutaneous injection | 0.025 mg/kg | two injections of Melanotan II and two of vehicle per man | 6 hours of monitoring after each injection | [3] |
What the evidence shows
Each finding is tagged by the kind of study it comes from. Human trials are listed first.
Small human study
In the 3-man pilot study, two men had measurably darker skin on the face, upper body and buttock one week after five low doses. [1]
Small human study
In 10 men with psychogenic erectile dysfunction, 8 developed erections after Melanotan II. Tip rigidity above 80% lasted a mean 38.0 minutes against 3.0 minutes with placebo. [2]
Small human study
In 10 men with erectile dysfunction and organic risk factors, erections were reported after 12 of 19 Melanotan II injections against 1 of 21 placebo doses. [3]
Small human study
Across the 20 men in the two erectile dysfunction studies, 17 had an erection after Melanotan II without sexual stimulation. [4]
Side effects and warnings
Reported in human studies or on a label:
- Nausea was reported at most dose levels in the pilot study. [1]
- The highest pilot dose, 0.03 mg/kg, caused Grade II sleepiness and fatigue in one of two men. [1]
- Unprompted erections came and went for 1 to 5 hours after a dose, with stretching and yawning. [1]
- At 0.025 mg/kg, severe nausea followed 4 of 19 injections in one study. [3]
- Across the two erectile dysfunction studies, 12.9% of men had severe nausea at 0.025 mg/kg. [4]
- Case report: a 39-year-old man who injected 6 mg bought online developed a racing heart, muscle breakdown (rhabdomyolysis) and kidney dysfunction, and spent 3 days in intensive care. The product was confirmed as Melanotan II by mass spectrometry. [5]
- Case report: melanoma in a 20-year-old woman three months after a 3 to 4 week course of self-injections combined with sunbed use. A single case cannot prove cause. [6]
- Case report: prolonged painful erection (ischemic priapism) after a subcutaneous injection, which needed surgery. [7]
- Case report: kidney infarction that the authors judged most likely due to Melanotan II. [8]
- Case report: mucosal melanoma in the upper jaw of a 22-year-old woman who had used a Melanotan II nasal spray for tanning. A single case cannot prove cause. [9]
- FDA's summary of the published case reports. [10]
Melanotan II has no approved label in the US or Canada for this use, so there is no official list of who should not use it, no interaction list and no missed-dose rule.
Storage
Keep an unmixed vial the way its label says. Once it is mixed, keep it in the fridge, do not freeze it, and write the mixing date on the vial.
Melanotan II dosage questions
How many units is 500 mcg of Melanotan II from a 10 mg vial?
Mixed with 3 mL of bacteriostatic water, a 10 mg vial is 3.3333 mg/mL. 500 mcg is 0.15 mL, which is 15 units on a U-100 syringe.
How much water goes in a 10 mg Melanotan II vial?
3 mL gives 3.3333 mg/mL. At that strength the doses in the chart sit at 7.5, 15, 3, 6 units on a U-100 syringe.
How many doses are in a 10 mg vial?
Whole doses in one vial: 40 at 250 mcg, 20 at 500 mcg, 100 at 100 mcg, 50 at 200 mcg.
Is Melanotan II approved in the US?
Not FDA approved. FDA told consumers to stop using it in 2007, and it sits on FDA's list of compounding substances that were in Category 2 (significant safety risks) before their nominations were withdrawn.
Is Melanotan II authorized in Canada?
Not authorized. Health Canada lists Melanotan I and II among unauthorized injectable peptide drugs it has seized and tells consumers not to buy or use them.
What human dosing data is there for Melanotan II?
Never approved as a medicine in the US or Canada. FDA told consumers to stop using it in 2007, and Health Canada lists it among seized unauthorized injectable peptides.
Sources
Each one was opened on 10 Oct 2026 and matched to the line it supports.
- Dorr RT et al. Evaluation of melanotan-II, a superpotent cyclic melanotropic peptide in a pilot phase-I clinical study. Life Sci 1996. PubMed 8637402.
- Wessells H et al. Synthetic melanotropic peptide initiates erections in men with psychogenic erectile dysfunction: double-blind, placebo controlled crossover study. J Urol 1998. PubMed 9679884.
- Wessells H et al. Effect of an alpha-melanocyte stimulating hormone analog on penile erection and sexual desire in men with organic erectile dysfunction. Urology 2000. PubMed 11018622.
- Wessells H et al. Melanocortin receptor agonists, penile erection, and sexual motivation: human studies with Melanotan II. Int J Impot Res 2000. PubMed 11035391.
- Nelson ME et al. Melanotan II injection resulting in systemic toxicity and rhabdomyolysis. Clin Toxicol (Phila) 2012. PubMed 23121206.
- Hjuler KF et al. Melanoma associated with the use of melanotan-II. Dermatology 2014. PubMed 24355990.
- Mallory CW et al. Melanotan Tanning Injection: A Rare Cause of Priapism. Sex Med 2021. PubMed 33460908.
- Peters B et al. Melanotan II: a possible cause of renal infarction: review of the literature and case report. CEN Case Rep 2020. PubMed 31953620.
- Yassin Alsabbagh A et al. Melanotan II nasal spray: a possible risk factor for oral mucosal malignant melanoma? Int J Oral Maxillofac Surg 2025. PubMed 40210573.
- US Food and Drug Administration Certain Bulk Drug Substances for Use in Compounding that May Present Significant Safety Risks 2026. fda.gov.
- US Food and Drug Administration FDA Issues Warning Letter to Melanocorp, Inc. For Illegal Sale of Melanotan II 2007. web.archive.org.
- Health Canada Think twice before injecting peptides bought online: unauthorized products can seriously harm you 2026. recalls-rappels.canada.ca.
Looked for and not found
- Human half-life: no human pharmacokinetic study was found. The one pharmacokinetic paper found on PubMed was done in rats (PMID 7981427).
- No approved label anywhere, so no official dose, contraindications, interaction list or storage instructions.
- No fixed-milligram trial dose: every trial dose found is set per kilogram of body weight.
- No controlled human trial after 2000 was found, and no human trial of a nasal spray or of dosing longer than 2 weeks.
- A Health Canada advisory about Melanotan II alone was not found; it is named in Health Canada's general advisories on injectable peptides.
- ClinicalTrials.gov search for melanotan returned one record (NCT07437560, vitiligo, first posted 2026-02-27). It gives no dose and its own summary calls it an example study record, so it is not used here.
- Melanotan II is not named in the WADA 2026 Prohibited List. Whether the list's general class of non-approved substances S0 covers it was not determined.
Change log
10 Oct 2026Page published. 12 sources checked. Vial math added for the 10 mg vial.
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