Facial Plastic Surgery Alert

That’s the classification of an article by plastic surgeons Clinton Humphrey and Anna Lawrence on what is known as ‘Ozempic face’.  

For those who don’t know what Ozempic is (apparently, there still are some), it is the drug prescribed for patients with type II diabetes to help them lose weight and improve all kinds of metabolic risks. Some people may have heard of Wegovy, which is the same drug (so-called GLP-1) but the trade name under which it is prescribed to patients with diseases other than type II diabetes to help them lose weight. Both Ozempic and Wegovy are manufactured by Novo Nordisk, which is why that stock has become the European hype stock of 2024.

And to be clear, the Ozempic and Wegovy are as close to miracle drugs as one can find anywhere. Not only do they help people lose weight, but they also prevent the deterioration of chronic kidney disease in patients with diabetes, reduce the risk of heart attacks, and may even reduce cravings for alcohol and thus may help recover from alcoholism. Hardly a month goes by these days without another announcement of these drugs curing another ailment.

But these drugs also have side effects, which include diarrhea, constipation, flatulence, nausea, vomiting, and abdominal pain. Small price to pay if you can lose between 10% and 20% of your body weight without having to change your diet or exercise more.  

But one side effect, which isn’t even mentioned in the packaging, apparently is unbearable to many users of these drugs: Ozempic face.

As people lose a lot of body fat when using Ozempic or Wegovy, this body fat is not only taken from the parts of the body where they want to lose it but also from the face. The result can be a sagging face with more lines and wrinkles and loose skin, particularly around the lips, chin, and cheek. In essence, patients complain that their face looks about five years older than before they started taking the drugs.

Symptoms of Ozempic face

Source: Medical News Today

Now, one way to deal with that is to stop taking Ozempic, but the problem with that is that once patients stop taking these drugs, they will start to eat normally again and regain the weight they lost. And not just that. The body doesn’t simply build up fat where it previously was but may build new fat deposits in completely new places. So, the Ozempic face may stay while the people gain weight again. Alternatively, doctors recommend changing diet and lifestyle to maintain a healthy weight but if the people who take Ozempic could do that, they wouldn’t be on the drug to begin with, I guess.

If changing your lifestyle and your diet is too hard, rest assured, American doctors will have you covered. Where there is money to be made, there is a plastic surgeon to be had. Instead of accepting that the price of a healthier body is a face that looks a little bit older than before, people flock to plastic surgeons to get cosmetic facelifts and fillers injected into their faces to make them look young again.

The success of Ozempic and Wegovy is putting many companies that sell fast food or candy as well as the makers of drugs fighting kidney disease under pressure, but here is one sector that seems to benefit from these drugs: I have a BUY rating on plastic surgeons.