Is "Ozempic Face" Real?

Potentially the biggest topic in both healthcare and aesthetics in the past year has been GLP-1s. You know the ones – the injectable (and newly available in pill form) medications that have been helping people lose weight quickly and successfully by blocking cravings and making them feel less hungry. But very soon into the popularity of GLP-1s, people started to talk about a negative side effect they were seeing: so-called “Ozempic face.” 

But is Ozempic face even real? If so, what causes it and what can you do about it? 

What Is “Ozempic Face” and Is It Real?

Short answer: yes, Ozempic face is real. If you haven’t heard the chatter about it or seen examples of celebrities who have shown these changes, “Ozempic face” is just a new term for the facial cosmetic effects of significant and fast weight loss. It makes a person look like they’ve aged rapidly, showing effects like sagging facial skin, more pronounced lines and wrinkles, and a sunken face or hollowed cheeks. 

Do GLP-1s Cause Ozempic Face?

The answer to this is yes and no. It’s not the GLP-1s that are causing the facial changes directly – these changes are caused by weight loss, whether or not a GLP-1 is used for that weight loss. In fact, people in the bariatric surgery and weight loss world have known about and talked about these facial changes long before GLP-1 medications were available. 

With that said, people who use a GLP-1 to lose weight are generally more prone to Ozempic face because they tend to lose more weight more quickly than people who don’t use these medications. That’s why you’re probably seeing more people with these facial changes than you used to. But if you lose the same amount of weight at the same speed without using GLP-1 medications, you’ll have so-called Ozempic face too.

Can You Prevent Ozempic Face While Taking GLP-1s?

When you’re on a weight loss mission, there’s not really anything you can do to prevent facial changes outright. Those changes are simply what your face looks like when you lose facial fat. And as much as you might like to, you can’t determine where your body loses fat from – if you’re losing a significant amount of weight, changes are that some of it is going to come from your face. 

Technically, if you lose less weight or you lose it more slowly, then you’ll have fewer facial changes. But for people who are motivated enough toward weight loss that they opt for a GLP-1, the benefits of their weight loss typically overpower any negative facial changes, so for someone whose health and/or self-confidence is suffering because of obesity, some facial aging is usually worth it. 

How to Minimize Ozempic Face During and After Weight Loss

While you can’t prevent facial changes from weight loss entirely, there are things you can do (besides losing weight more slowly) to keep it to a minimum.

1.     Use Skin Care Products That Enhance Collagen

Collagen in your skin is what makes your skin more firm, lifted, and youthful. The more you can enhance your skin’s collagen, the better your skin will be able to “snap back” and will be less susceptible to sagging after losing facial fat. Products like a collagen boosting serum, retinoids, or collagen-stimulating moisturizers should be a staple in your routine.

2.     Invest in Professional Cosmetic Procedures

If you want the most direct and efficient way to ease the effects of Ozempic face, professional skin procedures are your best bet (albeit a pricy one). Talk to a skin care specialist about what they’d recommend for your specific symptoms, but this might include nonsurgical skin firming treatments, laser therapy or resurfacing, or injectables to fill in targeted areas.

3.     Be Strict About Sun Care

Sun exposure degrades collagen and will make the facial effects of weight loss more pronounced, so if you’re not already religious about your sun protection, now is the time to start. This includes wearing sunscreen daily, protecting your skin with shade like sunglasses and wide-brimmed hats, and limiting your time outdoors during the sun’s strongest hours of 10am to 4pm.

4.     Prioritize Protein

When you’re losing weight, your body doesn’t just burn fat for energy, it burns muscle too, and your facial changes from weight loss come from a combination of fat loss and muscle loss in your face. One way to minimize muscle loss is by eating plenty of protein so that your muscle building combats the muscle loss.

5.     Stay Hydrated Inside and Outside

If your skin is dry, it makes wrinkles, lines and laxity more pronounced, so keep yourself and your skin hydrated so that your facial changes are more subtle. Along with drinking plenty of water, make sure that you’re using a reliable moisturizer every morning and every night. 

Can You Get the Weight Loss Without Ozempic Face?

At the end of the day, everyone’s weight loss affects them differently, and that includes Ozempic face. Some people will see more facial changes than others, just like some people might lost more weight from their belly while others lose more weight from their arms and so on. But the tips above can help you minimize the effects of facial fat loss so that, as you’re liking what you see from your neck down, you can like what you see from the neck up too.