Ozempic is changing people's skin, say plastic surgeons

Don't these plastic surgeons have a conflict of interest if they perform liposuction? Liposuction is probably wildly more profitable than prescribing a GLP-1 inhibitor.

Worth keeping in mind that many plastic surgeons are in competition with drugs like Ozempic.

Two guesses:

- it's just stretched skin

- people get on ozempic but are not eating nutritious diets, so now they are malnourished

I wonder if using something like Retinol, which is proven to improve skin and make it look tighter, younger, and get rid of blemishes, marks, and sun damage, could be paired with Ozempic to keep skin more healthy along with a good skin routine?

And if that's true, what is the conclusion? Stay obese to have a beautiful skin (and deal with the associated health effects)?

A few things to consider:

1. If other weight loss methods also have significant impacts on the skin, it seems plausible that a shared mechanism could be the most parsimonious explanation. Therefore, if this effect exists, it might be due to weight loss itself rather than specifically due to Ozempic. The article cites a study supporting the fact that dramatic weight loss has negative impacts on skin health.

2. GLP-1 agonists modify appetite, which could lead people to consume less satiating foods (e.g., protein). This might negatively affect both lean muscle and skin health. There is data supporting collagen supplementation for skin health, as collagen likely raises serum amino acids. This would have the opposite effect on skin health compared to a lower intake of protein.

3. The observations made by plastic surgeons might be influenced by healthy user bias. Ozempic is an expensive medication, and insurance coverage is generally granted to those who are already quite unhealthy. To make a fair comparison, these patients should be compared to individuals with similar health characteristics.

It's also worth adopting an engineering mindset and considering the trade-offs involved. For someone who is extremely metabolically unhealthy, the benefits of weight loss might outweigh potential negative effects on the skin in terms of long-term health.

I've been using tirzepatide since the end of february, since then I've lost 52lbs in about 25 weeks, if my fat skin was stretched and it's since relaxed at a rate of 2lbs per week then maybe right now it is like an old rubber band that's been unstretched, but in a few months time once the rate of loss reduces it will be ok. I'm almost 50 so tbh I expected it to be much worse, I've virtually no loose skin compared to the 6 inches I've lost around my waist.

> “Fifteen years ago, I would never have done a lower body lift on a patient unless they had gastric bypass, a lap band, or a gastric sleeve,” he says.

Right, because 15 years ago nobody else lost any weight. GLP-1s and roux-en-Y are literally the only two treatments shown in clinical studies that cause people to lose weight and keep it off indefinitely.

Maybe the skin is saggy because there’s nothing under it, maybe not? But at least they won’t have a stroke, heart attack, cancer or type 2.

Chemo is going to make you look much worse.

The new category of patient is “person who successfully lost weight and kept it off without gastric bypass.”

[edit] if you think I’m exaggerating there’s a great study from 2023 that tracked how many people lost more than 5% body weight in a given year.

Answer: 1 in 10, skewing mostly to people who had more to lose.

If you were morbidly obese your probability of achieving a healthy weight is 1 in 1667 in a year.

And if you manage to thread that needle your average weight regain over 5 years is 80%.

https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle...

It's strange how there is almost never a shortcut to anything. Like a universal law.

So now you might get free weight loss without making any effort at all, but you'll also look older in the process?

I have to say, my father has been taking it, and I noticed that he does look older all of a sudden...and his weight loss also plateaued. I thought it was just my imagination, but maybe not.

There's no shot that the cure everything pill will have any negative health consequences, it's been working so well for me that I just spoke to my pharmacist and we're doubling my dose.

Gum Gum fruit, unlocked. Am now a Sun God.

A quick explanation about what Ozempic is would be helpful in this case. Not every country uses the same name for their drugs and the brand names are often very different

Was this article written by an LLM? I had to scroll so far to get to the core content it kept promising, it's like it wasn't written for human consumption.

Ultimately this article is kind of a FUD nothing-burger. People's skin behaves the same anytime there is rapid weight loss.

wonder if this happens with Mounjaro, too

here’s my casual armchair analysis about some thing I know nothing about: Is this correlation instead of causation? I mean, if you’re dumping pounds rapidly and then your skin is all been stretched out…

If you're using ozempic or any other form of semiglutide , you'll want to keep and prioritize a high protein diet to reduce or eliminate the muscle wasting that the drug causes.

Nothing worse than losing weight but most of the weight loss was muscle mass.

The consensus is clear from the article but doesn’t support the headline: rapid weight loss changes the skin, which recovers over more time.