Medications intended for Type 2 diabetes are being used — some say abused — as quick weight loss drugs. These trending medications like Ozempic and Mounjaro may be effective at helping you to drop some pounds, but they can also have an ugly side effect. Taking the drugs can make you you look a heck of a lot older.
According to People, one new mom lost 20 pounds after injecting Mounjaro in high doses into her thigh, stomach or arm weekly, and while she loved the results, the 41-year-old said her face started to look gaunt.
“I remember looking in the mirror, and it was like I didn’t even recognize myself,” she said. “My body looked great, but my face looked exhausted and old.”
Dr. Oren Tepper, a New York-based plastic surgeon told The New York Times that it’s common for weight loss to deflate key areas of the face, which can age a person’s looks.
“When it comes to facial aging, fat is typically more friend than foe,” he explained. “Weight loss may turn back your biological clock, but it tends to turn your facial clock forward.”
Dr. Paul Jarrod Frank, a dermatologist in New York, who coined the term, “Ozempic face” to describe this side effect, said it is typically people in their 40s and 50s who are disturbed by the weight loss in their face.
“I see it every day in my office,” said Frank. “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 to been on Ozempic?’ And I’m right 100% of the time. It’s the drug of choice these days for the 1%.”
According to The Edge, Frank said that patients are actually getting gaunt looking. “There’s something about the medication that’s really almost creating a mild facial wasting. I think we’re going to be hearing about this a lot more,” he warned.
Doctors use expensive, noninvasive procedures to restore volume in a patient’s face, including fillers and injections that stimulate collagen production, says People. Doctors can also perform a face lift or transfer fat from other parts of the body into the face.