From Ozempic face to Ozempic derriere, for some this relatively new category of drug is becoming an aesthetic four-letter word. Below I delve deeper into a trend I anticipate seeing more of in 2025.
Of all the aesthetics treatments I expect will dominate the beauty landscape this year, newly tailored approaches to treating Ozempic and GLP-1 drug related weight loss makes the very top of my list.
Put yourself in the situation millions of Americans cope with every day.
You’ve been struggling with obesity for years, likely your entire life. Though fitness routines, a conscientious diet, and more protein shakes than you can count have improved your health and life, the weight just won’t come off. In fact, it’s a constant struggle. Perhaps your doctor has even begun the dreaded ‘heart health’ talk with you (heart disease is the number one cause of death in the US). Or perhaps you’ve already started treatment for type 2 diabetes (another leading cause of death stateside), a disease that all too frequently accompanies the epidemic of our modern world: obesity.
Then one day, your doctor brings up a relatively new kind of diabetic medication that seems made for you: Glucagon-Like-Peptide-1 (GLP-1) analogs. It’s an anorectic class of drug that reduces blood sugar and your energy uptake through the activation of the GLP-1 Receptor.
What it also does on a biochemical level is fundamentally change your relationship with food and hunger. This is a game changer. The weight comes off and stays off.
There’s a small catch, however – a price as it were for all that rapid weight loss. Sagging skin, gaunt faces (Ozempic face and butt, anyone?), and people are scrambling to figure out how to fix it.
What is Ozempic?
Fundamentally, Ozempic and other GLP-1 agonists, change a patient’s relationship with food and hunger. That’s what catalyses the dramatic weight loss. It’s not appropriate for everyone but it’s rapidly changing the landscape of obesity and related diabetes 2 treatment worldwide. Image for by pvproductions for Freepik.
Semaglutide is the most common GLP-1 analog out there and the molecule that Ozempic, Wegovey, and Mounjaro are based on. How does it work? Semaglutide is a hormone that activates a specific receptor in your cells (GLP-1 Receptor). That receptor catalyses the release of insulin and subsequent uptake up sugar from your blood. It also suppresses appetite and causes food to move slower through the intestines, making people feel fuller longer.
There’s of course more this hormone is doing in the body, however. This category of drug can affect many different processes and biochemical pathways– and that’s turning out to be a very good thing for medical advancements. Preliminary research is showing that GLP-1 drugs may open up new avenues of treatment for other diseases, including Alzheimer’s, and arthritis, and it may decrease some cancer incidence. We could be looking at a medical advancement leap in real time!
What is Ozempic Face?
Ozempic face refers to the haggard, gaunt appearance that the face can take on after starting Ozempic, a deflation as it were. The other place we see this deflation is the behind. It’s caused by the depletion of fat pads and fat deposits which typically give the face, breasts, and derriere their shape.
‘Ozempic face’ is the result of rapid weight loss, and it’s not exclusive to semaglutide drugs. As the face loses fat with the rest of the body, it can deflate (sometimes only temporarily) taking on a more gaunt, older appearance, making jowls and folds appear more pronounced. Image by Freepik.
The truth of the matter is that ‘Ozempic face’ (or more accurately ‘semaglutide face’) isn’t a special condition. It’s something that can happen anytime a significant amount of weight is lost in a short period of time. Body builders and athletes frequently experience it during times of intense training. It can be reversible, settling when weight stabilizes, but not always. It’s a tricky thing with fat deposits. Genetics, age, personal history with weight, and skin quality and elasticity, all play into how much Ozempic face may resolve on its own.
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What Can Be Done to Correct it?
Time
Depending on age, tissue quality, how much weight was lost, and genetics, it’s very possible that given time, some of the skin laxity and volume loss can resolve on its own. Our bodies are a marvelous thing. If it’s possible, waiting a year while weight stabilises to see how the skin reacts is a great start. Remember, no one needs plastic surgery. In the case of weight loss, time can bring about significant changes. Giving your body a chance to heal on its own is always preferable to surgery.
But that doesn’t help if the immediate aesthetic drawback is weighing on your mind.
Fillers
Where the face is concerned, patients who’ve had success losing weight with GLP-1 medications, can often benefit from replenishing lost volume with an injectable filler, such as hyaluronic acid, Sculptra, or even fat transfer. I’ve seen injectables trending away from HA fillers as patients try to avoid the ‘puffy’ or ‘pillow’ look, and I think that’s just fine. Sculptra has the added benefit of being a biostimulator, meaning it induces your skin to make more collagen over time, and fat transfers use your own fat (autologous) or a donor matrix of fat (Renuva) if harvesting isn’t an option. A great provider can help you tailor your treatment to ensure the best aesthetic results. Everyone is different and there is no such thing as one size fits all.
Microneedling and RF Microneedling
Microneedling and microneedling paired with radiofrequency can be beneficial for improving the quality of skin and addressing scars and some shallow wrinkles. There are people who swear by it, and it can have a very mild, tightening-like effect for some people when used responsibly.
However, a word of caution for people seeking to address deeper wrinkles, sagging, and jowls. These procedures will not deliver dramatic results and are not comparable to surgery, nor are they an alternative to fillers. They also are not risk free, so a good consultation is key before proceeding and putting money down. The same thing goes for lasers and energy treatments. While they can have their place, true lifting and tightening aren’t in their wheelhouse.
Surgical Options
While non-surgical interventions have been all the rage over the past 20 years, the honest truth is that prominent sagging caused by time, gravity, and the descent of tissue
and ligaments, is going to require surgery. There’s just no way to lift the underlying fascia and muscles without going in manually.
While weight loss doesn’t inherently cause descent of these tissues, weight loss can make it more apparent, particularly in places where fat plays a structural role (like in the face and buttocks). Just like over-filling can dilate the skin, so too can weight gain, again making skin appear to age faster when the weight comes off.
While a facelift and or neck lift can do wonders to reposition the underlying tissue and remove excess skin, it won’t replace volume. That’s one of the reasons fat transfers are sometimes performed alongside a facelift when significant volume loss is also a concern.
Be aware that, though we’re seeing a phenomenon of women pursuing facelifts in their 20s and 30s, often after spending years ‘chasing filler top-ups’ every six months, there are questions about long term effects. We know fillers can last much longer than the purported 6-18 months listed on products, potentially for decades, and that inflation and stretching I believe is contributing to this younger face lift trend (I’m not immune to the irony there, that pursuing non-surgical solutions may have hastened the need for surgical intervention). Many have opined publicly that they wished they’d waited until they were ready for a facelift instead of going overboard with fillers.
We don’t yet know what the long-term implications of younger face lifts are. Like with the filler craze that kicked off the 2000s, there could be consequences down the road that we won’t see for another decade or so. Yes, surgery can do wonders to improve sagging after weight loss, but prospective patients need to weigh the risks – now and ten or twenty years down the road – with the results they can expect.
Remember, no one needs surgery. Though the results can be impactful and confidence boosting, there’s no rush to have work done.
What people should rush is to celebrate their momentous achievement of living healthier. Medically assisted or not, achieving a maintainable, healthy weight goal is something that should make everyone proud and confident!
If you’re considering a surgical option to deal with changes from weight loss, visit Feel Confident to see our other educational articles. To book a consultation to discuss your aesthetics goals, visit City Facial Plastics.
