US plastic surgeons have reported an increase in patients seeking treatment for ‘Ozempic face’ and ‘Ozempic body’ – the loose, sagging skin caused by rapidly losing weight after taking trendy semaglutide weight- loss drugs Ozempic and Wegovy.
Semaglutide drugs themselves do not cause loose skin, but it can cause patients to lose weight faster than other forms of weight-loss methods, including bariatric surgery.
Dr Paul Jarrod Frank, a cosmetic dermatologist in the US, first coined the term ‘Ozempic face’ after many of his middle-aged patients would come in with gaunt faces after losing a lot of body weight in a short period of time while on the weight-loss drug.
Dr Dhaval Bhanusali, a NY dermatologist, told The New York Times that he’s seen an increase in patients on semaglutide medications who are ‘concerned about facial ageing and sagging’.
‘We are seeing more and more patients on the medications coming in,’ he said. ‘Generally, it’s people in their 40s and 50s who are losing significant amounts of weight and are concerned about facial ageing and sagging that occurs as a result.’
New York plastic surgeon Dr Ryan Neinstein, who regularly treats patients seeking treatment for loose skin after bariatric surgery, told insider.com that he’s increasingly seeing people with the same issue, or ‘even stretchier, looser skin than bariatric patients’, after taking Ozempic – due to ‘muscle mass and fat decreasing so quickly’.
Dr Neinstein noted loose skin after weight loss can be temporary, and most people see skin return to normal 6-18 months following bariatric surgery; hence, his first approach in helping Ozempic patients is the same as with bariatric surgery: encouraging patience and plenty of exercise. AMP
