Dr Simon Ourian, a cosmetic dermatologist in Beverly Hills, gave the warning
Ozempic patients are facing saggy skin and ‘deflated’ buttocks because they are losing weight too fast, Kim Kardashian’s doctor has revealed.
Dr Simon Ourian, a cosmetic dermatologist in Beverly Hills, has dubbed the phenomenon ‘Ozempic body’.
He said many patients were now getting fillers in their face and buttocks to solve the unsightly drooping.
The medic told The Hollywood Reporter: ‘If you lose a lot of weight quickly, your skin gets saggy, everything from the face to the buttocks is deflated.
‘If you maintain your [new] weight for a year or two a lot of times your skin tightens up on its own.
‘But if you want immediate results [because] you are in front of the camera, there are ultrasound and radiofrequency treatments, fillers or you can go as far as getting surgery.’
April Peter, from rural Pennsylvania, has detailed her weight loss journey on social media using the drug Mounjaro. She lost about 70lbs in six-and-a-half months, which left a lot of skin around her abdomen, arms and legs. Mounjaro acts on the same receptors as Ozempic, but also targets a separate group
Kim Kardashian’s (pictured above in Los Angeles, California, on April 14) doctor gave the warning about Ozempic. There is no evidence that Kim has used the drug
Ozempic has shot to popularity and fame — especially in Hollywood — for its ability to quickly shave off pounds through weekly injections.
But an increasing number of side effects are beginning to emerge.
Patients say they have become suddenly repulsed by their favorite foods — including ground beef and chicken burgers – after being prescribed the drug.
‘Ozempic face’ has also been described by Dr Paul Frank, a dermatologist in New York.
He said it happens when rapid weight loss causes loose skin to appear around the cheeks and chin, and expects this to become a common problem as the drug takes off in popularity.
Other side effects previously reported include patients losing more muscle than fat — which may surprise the influencer-types who are using the drug to achieve perfect physiques.
When someone gains weight, the skin stretches to accommodate the extra fat. And when someone loses weight, it contracts to the new body size.
But should weight loss happen rapidly the skin may not have enough time to reduce to match the new body-size.
Additionally, weight loss can cause a reduction in the amount of collagen and elastin in the skin — proteins essential to its structure and elasticity that can reduce sagging. This can also be triggered by aging.
Patients that have faced loose skin after using the weight-loss drugs include nurse April Peter.
She used Mounjaro and after six-and-a-half months lost as much as 70lbs.
But it also left her with saggy skin around her middle, arms, legs and on her face.
Speaking about the skin, she said in a TikTok video: ‘I have a ton of loose skin.
‘My arms have a lot of loose skin, my thighs have a lot of loose skin, they’re really soft, they are not as firm as they once were, but it is ok.
‘My abdomen is the area where I have a lot of loose skin.
She added: ‘I have tons of loose skin, there’s so much, and it even goes around my back, it’s really soft.
‘When I wear jeans and buy jeans now I try to get some stiff structure denim because I feel like it kind of pushes everything in… and kind of like camouflages it for me.’
She said she was not planning to get surgery to remove the skin because a procedure like that ‘terrifies me’.
Ozempic has been approved to help manage obesity in overweight or obese patients with type 2 diabetes,
But the drug is now being prescribed off-label, particularly to people who are a healthy weight but want to lose a few extra pounds ahead of ‘Bikini season’.
Pictured above is Ms Peter showing the loose skin that she has around her middle after taking weight loss drug Mounjaro
More than five million Americans received a prescription for Ozempic in 2022, data shows, compared to just 230,000 in 2019.
And the number is continuing to grow with over 373,000 prescriptions filled in the last week of February, an all-time high and double the levels at the same time last year. More than half of these were new, analysts said.
Data shows that a quarter of Ozempic prescriptions in 2022 were off-label for people who did not have type 2 diabetes.
These prescriptions were most common in Texas followed by Florida, California, New York and Georgia.
Ozempic works by mimicking a hormone in the body that tricks someone into thinking they are full.
As a result, they consume less — leading to weight loss.
But doctors are now telling patients using the drug to ensure they keep consuming adequate protein in order to avoid muscle loss. They are also saying that people should resistance train while on the drug to help maintain muscles.
It comes after a longevity doctor warned last month that Ozempic was shrinking patients’ muscles at an ‘alarming rate’ and could raise their risk of health problems later in life.
Dr Peter Attia, a physician based in Austin, Texas, warned the drugs were not a ‘panacea’ for weight loss — despite taking Hollywood by storm.
He said that they prompted equal muscle-to-fat loss in patients, which he argued made them metabolically ‘fatter’ because they then had a higher fat-to-muscle percentage.
Speaking on his podcast, The Drive, Dr Attia said that patients on the treatment were also losing lean muscle, which could worsen their long-term health.
He added in an earlier video on Instagram: ‘Almost without exception, every patient we have put on this drug has lost muscle mass. And they have lost muscle mass at a rate that alarms me.’
He continued: ‘It is not uncommon if you weigh 280lbs and you go to 180 pounds that you are going to lose some muscle and some fat.
‘But, let’s be clear, if you lost 10lbs of muscle and 10lbs of fat to go from 200 to 180 pounds, would that be good?
‘Well, only if you were more than 50 percent body fat at the outset. Otherwise, you have disproportionately lost muscle to fat.’
He added: ‘In fact, you have gotten fatter as you’ve lost weight.’
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