‘Ozempic Face’: The Popular Weight Loss Drug Is Dramatically Altering the Way People Look

By: David Donovan | Published: Jun 26, 2024

Everybody’s discussing Ozempic. Celebrities, the ultra-wealthy, and some members of the general public have made the medication for type 2 diabetes the most popular weight loss option.

However, it has become abundantly clear that the drug’s main component, semaglutide, is causing what many people refer to as “Ozempic Face,” in which a person’s skin loses its elasticity and begins to look years younger in a matter of months.

What Is Ozempic?

Ozempic was made to treat type 2 diabetes by making people’s levels of the hormone called incretins higher. Incretins help the body make insulin when it’s needed and reduce how much glucose the liver makes.

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Ozpemic is made with semaglutide, which also makes the brain believe that the stomach is full even though it isn’t. Consequently, it functions well as a weight reduction drug.

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Ozempic and Wegovy Recommendations

Although the FDA (Food and Drug Administration) has endorsed Ozpemic to treat type 2 diabetes, it has not endorsed the medication as a solution for weight reduction. Recommending a patient without type 2 diabetes Ozempic is in fact unlawful, yet it still occurs.

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Be that as it may, while everybody knows the name Ozpempic, what many individuals are really taking is Wegovy. The chemical composition of Wegovy and Ozempic is nearly identical, and it was developed and approved specifically for use in obese patients.

Negative Effects of Ozempic

Despite the FDA’s approval of these two medications, they should not be taken lightly. Using either Ozpemic or Wegovy in the wrong way can be very bad for your health.

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As per Ozempic, the most well-known side effects are “nausea, stomach pain, diarrhea, constipation, or vomiting,” however numerous people who have taken the drug have had far more damaging outcomes than stomach aches.

Drug Misuse

The semaglutide in both Ozempic and Wegovy can and frequently does cause severe changes in the intestine and digestion, making their misuse extremely risky.

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Pancreatitis, inability to absorb nutrients, and, in some instances, gastric, colon, or intestinal cancer are all possible outcomes of these changes.

No Perscription

Furthermore, certain individuals have determined that they are so anxious to get fitter rapidly that they will buy either Ozempic or Wegovy on the black market on the off chance that they can’t get the medicine from their doctor.

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On the web, there are undeniably fewer guidelines, and an individual might be getting a weakened or even totally different medication than they assumed they were buying.

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Risk Factor

Despite the fact that no one should attempt to buy such a dangerous medication online, those who do receive a prescription for the right medication from their doctor still run the risk of experiencing a number of undesirable side effects.

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One of these is what is being referred to as “Ozempic Face.” Even though Ozempic Face isn’t technically fatal or dangerous, it is an unwanted side effect.

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What Is Ozempic Face?

When a person who is taking Ozempic or Wegovy for weight loss begins to experience facial sagging or premature aging, they have Ozempic Face.

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Dr. Adil Sheraz, an expert dermatologist at the British Skin Foundation, stated: “The face has a layer of fat that essentially stretches the skin. Ozempic results in rapid weight loss and does so very effectively. This, of course, will lead to rapid loss of subcutaneous (under the skin) facial fat.”

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Skin Shrinking

Dr. Sheraz proceeded, “The overlying skin however will not be able to shrink at the same rate, resulting in a sagging, droopy and wrinkled appearance.”

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In essence, loose, sallow skin can make a person appear to have aged several years or even decades in just a few months or weeks. Contingent upon an individual’s facial flexibility, this incidental effect can influence some more than others, however, it is incredibly normal.

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Common Occurrence

Since the drug became a popular weight loss tool, Dr. Paul Jarrod Frank, a New York dermatologist, told the New York Times that he sees Ozempic Face “every day.”

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Dr. Frank elaborated “A 50-year-old patient will come in, and suddenly, she’s super-skinny and needs filler, which she never needed before. I look at her and say: ‘How long have you been on Ozempic?’ And I’m right 100 per cent of the time.”

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Celebrities on Ozempic

According to a shocking Gallup survey, nearly 15.5 million Americans have used injectable weight loss medications like Ozempic and Wegovy.

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Gallup, Inc.

Ozempic Face is clearly a real side effect of taking the drug to lose weight, and people like Elon Musk, Oprah Winfrey, Kelly Osbourne, her mother Sharon, Jessica Simpson, and Scott Disick have all experienced it.

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Poor Solution

Despite the fact that Ozempic and Wegovy will positively assist somebody with getting in shape, the advantages stop there. 

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The medications are known to cause malfunctions inside the digestion tracts and might prompt deadly illnesses like pancreatitis and cancer

As if that weren’t bad enough, once a person stops taking the medication, they will gain back two-thirds of the weight they lost, and for many, their Ozempic Face will never be the same again.

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How Does Ozempic Work?

According to UC Davis, Ozempic tricks your brain by mimicking a naturally occurring hormone found in the body. When taking Ozempic, your digestion slows and the rise in hormone levels tells your brain that you feel full.

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Experts compare the effect of taking Ozempic to bariatric surgery which reduces the size of your stomach to achieve a similar “full-feeling” effect so you eat less.

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Weight Loss Outcomes

In 2022, a study was conducted by Jama Network that examined the effectiveness and outcomes for patients who used semaglutide treatments to manage being overweight or obese.

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The study followed a cohort of 175 patients in the overweight or obese category and set up a random trial in a clinical setting to gauge its effectiveness.

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Study Objective

The study, titled” Weight Loss Outcomes Associated With Semaglutide Treatment for Patients With Overweight or Obesity,” set out to determine weight loss outcomes for patients, noting no such specific study had been done before this point.

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“No retrospective cohort study has assessed the effectiveness of semaglutide at doses used in randomized clinical trials to treat obesity (ie, 1.7 and 2.4 mg),” said the study.

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Exposure Protocol

Data was collected from participants in the study between January 1 2021 and March 15, 2022 who were subjected to “weekly 1.7-mg or 2.4-mg semaglutide subcutaneous injections for 3 to 6 months.”

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Patients were selected if they had a body mass index of 27 or more and were excluded if they had a medical history of bariatric procedures, or had other health history that could affect the results.

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Study Findings

The study looked at two different timelines on weight loss for study participants. On average, the study patients had a total body weight loss of 5.9% at 3 months and 10.9% at 6 months. 

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However, the study does note that these results are not indicative of long-term weight loss and notes that “Studies with longer periods of follow-up are needed to evaluate prolonged weight loss outcomes.”

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Ozempic Butt

Another phenomenon among users of Ozempic is called “Ozempic butt.” Much like Ozempic face, the butt version involves a look of sagging skin related to the use of semaglutide.

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“My dad said, ‘You don’t have a butt anymore,’” said Jess Loren a digital-tech CEO to the New York Post. “I try on bathing suits and I’ve got ‘ghost *ss,’ or what people online call ‘Ozempic butt.’”

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Hating the Look

Users of Ozempic are sometimes unhappy with the results on their body, even if they are successful in getting the weight off that they wanted.

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“I hate my Ozempic butt,” said Genz Z mom Alexus Brookshire who lost 102 pounds since starting Ozempic. “It does not look awful in a bathing suit, but I would love to improve it by getting in the gym.”

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Treating Ozempic Saggy Skin

Although Ozemic can cause unattractive-looking sagging skin on the face and butt of a user, people are not necessarily stuck with the look. 

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Human skin has a natural elasticity, if someone is able to maintain a stable weight for an extended period of time, skin can correct itself somewhat to a person’s new shape.

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Avoid Losing Weight Too Quickly

The speed of weight loss for people who take Ozemic is one of the reasons for the unattractive stretching of skin. Health experts recommend that people who want to lose weight do so slowly and with purpose.

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“Typically, when patients lose weight, it happens gradually, which allows the skin to contract and shrink slowly along with the weight loss,” says Phillip Kadaj, MD, a medical expert with JustAnswer.

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Not Much Time

Kadaj warns that because Ozempic weight loss can happen over a much faster time period, it moves too fast for your skin to adjust to.

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“This can give the face an appearance of having aged,” said Kadaj about Ozempic creating the appearance of sagging and wrinkles through extra skin.

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Weight Loss Recommendation

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has recommendations for someone wanting to undergo a weight loss journey.

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For people looking for a healthy weight loss plan, the CDC recommends only losing one or two pounds per week at the most, saying that people who lose at this rate are more likely to keep the weight off than those who go faster than this.

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Ozempic Can Be Faster

Depending on how much you initially weigh, Ozempic might contribute to your body weight loss faster than what the CDC recommends, especially if someone adds other weight-loss efforts into the mix.

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“Clinical trials showed that the average person taking Ozempic lost roughly 5% of their body weight by 20 weeks,” says hypertension specialist Raoul Manalac. ”For a 220-pound person, that’s about half a pound per week.”

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