Drugs used to fight type 2 diabetes are trending on social media as a way to lose weight fast — but some people are now reporting unwanted side effects like facial aging and vomiting.
The drugs’ popularity – which includes brands like Ozempic, Mounjaro and Wegovy – has exploded after rumors have it that several celebrities and influencers have used them to lose weight, including Kim Kardashian and Elon Musk.
However, many doctors worry that its popularity has led more people to take it without proper medical supervision, which can be risky due to the possibility of rare but serious side effects like thyroid cancer, pancreatitis, and kidney failure.
More common side effects — as documented by many women on TikTok — include nausea, vomiting, and facial aging dubbed “Ozempic Face.”
Drugs – like Ozempic – used to fight type 2 diabetes are trending on social media for losing weight fast – but some are reporting side effects like facial aging and vomiting
dr Daniel Dziabas posts an animation of an “Ozempic face” shrinking from using the drug
Jennifer Berger, 41, told the New York Times that she used mounjaro to lose weight after becoming pregnant. The drug, which she injected into her thigh, stomach or arm, worked wonderfully and she was able to lose 20 pounds.
But she said her face had started to look very gaunt.
“I remember looking in the mirror and it was almost like I didn’t recognize myself,” she told The Times. “My body looked great, but my face looked worn and old.”
dr Oren Tepper, a New York-based plastic surgeon, told the Times that it’s common for key areas of the face to become deflated from weight loss — so much so that that person looks older.
“When it comes to facial aging, fat is usually more friend than foe,” he said. “Weight loss can turn back your biological age, but it tends to advance your face clock.”
Mounjaro, which regulates blood sugar, suppresses appetite and appears to help shed those extra pounds, is the latest demand on the market.
“Everybody’s either on it or asking how to get it,” said Dr. Paul Jarrod Frank, a dermatologist in New York, told the Times. “We haven’t seen a prescription drug with so much chatter over cocktails and dinner since Viagra came out.”
dr Frank said he coined the term “Ozempic Face” to describe the sagging face condition.
“I see it in my office every day,” he explained. “A 50-year-old patient walks in and suddenly she’s super skinny and needs fillers that she never needed before. I look at her and say, ‘How long have you been on Ozempic?’ And I’m 100 percent right. It’s now the drug of choice for the 1 percent.’
One woman on TikTok spoke about her journey with the injections, saying she was bloated and gassy and she was “not fine.”
Another posted a video of himself in a towel saying he vomited in the shower
There are procedures to restore volume to a patient’s face, the Times reported, with doctors performing super-expensive but non-invasive injections of Radiesse and hyaluronic acid-based fillers, or Sculptra, which stimulates collagen.
Fat can also be transferred from other parts of the body to act as a filler on the face.
dr Dhaval Bhanusali, a dermatologist in New York, told The Times that the “idea is to balance the face to balance the hollows and downward protrusions on the cheeks, cheeks and other areas.”
“We’re seeing more and more patients taking medication,” he said. “In general, people in their 40s and 50s lose significant weight and are concerned about the resulting aging and sagging of the face.”
Everyone from Hollywood stars to tech moguls is turning to the injectable drug to stay slim, with Elon Musk crediting the drug with his recent weight loss in October.
Rumor has it Kim Kardashian used Wegovy to lose weight fast to fit into Marilyn Monroe’s famous Happy Birthday Mr President dress, which she wore to the 2022 Met Gala.
Everyone from Hollywood stars to tech moguls is turning to the injectable drug to stay slim, with Elon Musk crediting the drug with his recent weight loss in October. Pictured above, Elon Musk in August 2022. Jeremy Clarkson, 62, has revealed he started injecting himself with the “enormous” drug Ozempic after fears he might develop type 2 diabetes. Pictured above, Mr Clarkson in 2017
Kim Kardashian is rumored to have used Wegovy to lose weight fast to fit into Marilyn Monroe’s famous Happy Birthday Mr President dress at the 2022 Met Gala (pictured).
As the drugs’ popularity has exploded, doctors are warning against DIY weight loss injections at home using raw chemicals bought online.
People are being herded to websites normally used by research groups to buy experimental chemicals amid a nationwide shortage of Wegovy and Ozempic.
found nearly a dozen websites selling semaglutide, the active ingredient in Wegovy and Ozempic, for between $80 and $300 for up to two months. Two of the websites sold out of the chemical entirely, and one had a tutorial teaching people how to mix and inject the ingredients.
But dr Shauna Levy, an assistant professor of bariatric surgery at Tulane University in New Orleans and who sits on the American Board of Obesity Medicine, told taking the drugs at home is “incredibly unsafe on so many levels” and is distressing for people Risk of side effects, unsafe ingredients and overdose.
The websites, whose titles often included words like “laboratory” or “asylum,” sell a range of research chemicals, including hormones and steroids, which they claim are “not for human consumption.”
Ozempic suppresses appetite and makes the stomach feel fuller for longer
A global shortage of the drug was caused last year by an onslaught of celebrities and influencers, endangering people who rely on it to treat their type 2 diabetes and even leaving semaglutide sold out on some peptide supplier websites
Many chemicals’ lists state that they can only be purchased for scientific research purposes – a warning that allows the websites to exploit a loophole in the law.
also found Semaglutide on 10 pages. It was sold in powder form to be mixed with bacteriostatic water before being injected into the abdomen.
Wegovy has become highly sought after since it first became available in the US last year after clinical trials showed it had the ability to reduce a person’s body weight by about 15 percent over 68 weeks.
But its popularity, combined with manufacturing problems, led to month-long shortages of both Novo’s Wegovy and its sister drug Ozempic.
Tirzepatide, another diabetes drug sold under the brand name Mounjaro by Eli Lilly, also ran into shortages, according to the FDA’s online Drug Shortages Database.
Wegovy and Ozempic work by stimulating the body to produce a hormone called glucagon-like peptide-1, which is released naturally from the gut after meals.
Wegovy and Ozempic work by stimulating the body to produce a hormone called glucagon-like peptide-1, which is released naturally from the gut after meals
The hormone helps control blood sugar and makes people feel full so they know when to stop eating.
The results of a study of 2,000 people over 15 months show that the participants lost an average of 15 percent of their body weight, which corresponds to 15 kg.
The group received one-on-one counseling sessions from registered dietitians to help them stick to a reduced-calorie diet and exercise schedule alongside the weekly injections.
The volunteers reported an improved quality of life and reduced risk factors for developing heart disease and diabetes, such as: B. reduced waist circumference, blood lipids, blood sugar and blood pressure.