What is up with "Ozempic face”?
I get lots of notifications about face-related trends and the latest big hit is, “Ozempic face.”
Apparently, it is common for people who take Ozempic and some of the other new rapid weight loss drugs (glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists) to get more cavernous cheeks, drooping skin, and other signs of facial aging. Plastic surgeons are working hard to address this issue, which is purportedly due to the rapid loss of facial fat.
It is age-old knowledge that if you lose lots of fat, then the areas where you want to keep it are not spared – think of the face, the buttocks and, of course, the breasts! I’ve seen some health professionals mention that this “Ozempic face” is not specific to rapid weight loss drugs, per se -- you see the same kind of thing with gastric bypass, a popular surgical weight loss intervention that can lead to rapid weight loss. So, it’s not clear that there’s anything specific about Ozempic in terms of targeting facial fat, but rather what we see in the faces of some of the people who’ve taken these drugs is just what happens to when there is rapid weight loss by any cause. I’m sure the jury is still out.
That said, I have yet to see anyone address what might be happening to the *facial muscles* with such rapid weight loss. Rapid weight loss affects fat and muscle. Unless efforts are made to offset it (e.g. through exercise and proper nutrition), there is evidence that Ozempic causes rapid loss of skeletal muscle as well as fat (and there is a rush to create drugs to address this issue – c.f., Arnold, 2024). There is no reason to suppose that facial muscles are spared here. Facial muscles are striated like other skeletal muscles (and similar at a tissue level, though they differ functionally in many ways as they most are not attached to bone). So, I'm wondering if some of what we see in "Ozempic face" might be due to facial muscle loss/atrophy as well? Losing facial fat and facial muscle both would contribute to more rapid facial aging.
Just as muscle mass loss in the rest of the body might be prevented by proper nutrition and exercise, such efforts might help offset “Ozempic face” as well. The nutrition piece is obvious (changing nutrition to promote muscle-building should benefit the entire body), but what about exercises for building the muscles in the face? As a middle-aged woman, I get lots of ads for anti-aging products and exercises, including “face yoga.” Hmmm face yoga -- maybe there is something to that? Not just for people trying to offset “Ozempic face,” but also to combat the natural effects of aging in the face. As a FACS person, I have that one covered. Now what about my skin?!? 😉