When you take a GLP-1, you may experience side effects because of weight loss rather than the medication itself. These include aesthetic changes to your face and body, commonly called “Ozempic face,” “Ozempic butt,” and “Ozempic breasts.”
For example, “Ozempic face” — which refers to facial changes such as gauntness, sunken cheeks, new wrinkles, and loose skin on the face and neck — occurs when you lose facial fat. Significant, rapid weight loss reduces the fat just under your skin (subcutaneous fat), causing your face to appear hollow. It also lowers levels of elastin and collagen, proteins that provide support and structure to the skin. The loss of these proteins may cause wrinkles and sagging skin.
You also may experience fat and muscle loss elsewhere, such as your backside or breasts.
Similarly, hair loss may occur after rapid weight loss, especially in women and older adults. Hair loss can happen if rapid weight loss signals physical stress to the body, causing hair follicles to shift from the growth phase to the shedding phase too soon.
“Generally, the hair grows back after a plateau weight is reached,” says Sriram Machineni, MD, the director of the Fleischer Institute Medical Weight Center at Montefiore Einstein in New York City.
“The physical changes associated with these medications are more closely related to the total amount of weight lost rather than the speed of the loss,” Dr. Ali says. “Consequently, patients who lose more weight are more likely to notice these changes, regardless of which medication or delivery method is used.”
GLP-1 pills and injectables have about the same effect on weight loss, though Dr. Machineni says that losing less weight reduces your risk of these weight loss side effects.
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