"Ozempic Face": When the Kilos Drop Too Fast, the Skin Can't Keep Up - Doctors Say the Face Should Be Treated Only Once the Weight Stabilises

Drugs created for diabetes have become one of the best-known routes to fast weight loss, and aesthetic clinics have gained a new type of patient. They don't come to look younger, they come to get back the face they lost along with the kilos. The phenomenon already has a name - "Ozempic face."

The mechanism is simple. GLP-1 is a hormone the small intestine releases after a meal, and drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy mimic its action. They're used for type 2 diabetes and obesity. When weight drops sharply, fat tissue in the face is lost too, and the skin has no time to adapt to that speed. The result: lost volume in certain places, a changed facial contour, deeper folds and skin that can look saggier. How visible it is depends on age, genetics, skin quality and how many kilos were lost and over what time.

Janet Pardo, a cosmetics expert who works in product development at Clinique, explains that with very fast weight loss the body simply can't keep up with the pace. Her advice is basic and, rare in this industry, free: more protein in the diet, training the large muscle groups three to four times a week, and extra skin care.

The two doctors who talk about the treatments, Dr Paula Rosso and Dr Lajo Plaza, work as expert collaborators for Teoxane, a maker of hyaluronic acid fillers. That's worth knowing before you read their advice - which, surprisingly, is moderate. The face, they say, should be treated only once the weight has stabilised or the weight loss has become slow and predictable. If someone is still losing weight fast, the face keeps changing and there's a risk of overdoing the treatments.

The goal, according to them, isn't to bring back the old face but to achieve harmony in the new one. Hyaluronic acid fillers are chosen according to the area and the goal, and a natural result depends on where, how much and why you inject, not on the amount of product. During the weight loss itself, laser or radiofrequency can help the skin keep its firmness.

And this is where the cream comes in. Clinique has just launched a cream with collagen and PDRN that, according to the brand, "promises to plump the skin in just one month." Pardo adds that after the age of 20, collagen in the skin breaks down by 1 percent a year. Still, she admits something marketing rarely says: no cosmetic product can compare to a medical treatment. But the reverse is also true - if the skin is dehydrated or its protective barrier is damaged, injections won't heal it. That's where cosmetics are needed.

Everyone's conclusion is the same: a combined plan of aesthetic medicine and skin care. Except that each of them happens to sell one half of that plan. Before you decide on a filler or a cream, ask yourself the question no ad will ask you: is the weight really stable, or has the face not yet reached the end of the road?