Vyleesi is an FDA-approved peptide shot for low sexual desire in premenopausal women, not a tanning product and not a performance enhancer. The drug is bremelanotide, a cyclic heptapeptide that activates melanocortin receptors. Label tradeoffs that matter before the first autoinjector are common nausea, a temporary rise in blood pressure after every use, and clear limits on who should take it.
How it differs from melanotan ads
Social media “tan jabs” and nasal sprays often name melanotan, an unapproved alpha-MSH analogue linked to mole changes. Vyleesi is different: it is a licensed medicine for acquired, generalized hypoactive sexual desire disorder (HSDD) that causes distress and is not explained by another illness, a relationship problem, or another drug. Per the DailyMed label, it is not indicated after menopause, not indicated in men, and not indicated to enhance sexual performance.
MedlinePlus walks through the same boundaries and side-effect list. Chemistry on the label describes bremelanotide as a cyclic heptapeptide (seven linked amino acids closed into a ring), which is why it belongs in a peptide conversation without borrowing claims from research-chemical catalogs.
Side effects the label highlights
Nausea was reported in 40% of people in the phase 3 program who used up to eight doses a month. About 13% needed an anti-nausea medicine, and 8% left the trials because of nausea. Nausea was worst after the first use for many people and often eased later. Flushing, injection-site reactions, headache, and vomiting were also common.
Each use can raise systolic blood pressure by about 6 mm Hg and diastolic by about 3 mm Hg, peaking a few hours later, with a matching drop in heart rate. Values usually return toward baseline within about 12 hours. Vyleesi is contraindicated in uncontrolled hypertension or known cardiovascular disease, and the label tells clinicians to weigh heart risk before and during treatment. Darkening of the gums or skin (focal hyperpigmentation), including on the face and breasts, can appear and may not fully fade after stopping; the label says to consider stopping if that develops. It can also blunt the rise in blood pressure that some people get when they stand after lying down, which is a separate interaction note for people who use certain blood-pressure medicines.
The label tells clinicians to stop the drug after eight weeks if desire has not improved. Spacing matters: more than one use in 24 hours is not advised, and using it more than eight times a month is not recommended because of blood-pressure time and pigmentation risk.
Questions worth asking
- Is HSDD the right diagnosis, or is desire low because of pain, mood, sleep, relationship strain, or another medicine?
- Is blood pressure controlled, and is there any history of heart disease that would make a transient rise unsafe?
- What is the plan if nausea is severe after the first autoinjector use?
- How will you judge benefit by eight weeks so you are not staying on a drug that is not helping?
An approved melanocortin peptide is still a medicine with cardiovascular and nausea costs. Treat marketplace “desire” vials without a prescription label as a separate, higher-risk category.
By The Everyday Brief · AI-assisted editorial. Drafted with AI research assistance; claims checked against the linked sources (fetched 2026-10-09 PT). Not medical advice.