You may have heard of “Ozempic face”, “Ozempic butt” and “Ozempic finger,” three things that I have written about previously in Forbes. They’ve all been used to describe effects of the rapid weight loss that can come from taking glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists like semaglutide, which is in Ozempic. But such weight loss won’t necessarily just give the finger—or the butt for that matter. It can affect any part of your body typically dependent on underlying body tissue to maintain its shape. The latest entries to this list of body parts are “Ozempic mouth” and “Ozempic foot.”
What Is Ozempic Mouth And Feet
“Ozempic mouth” is where you develop lines, wrinkles and sagging loose skin around your mouth. “Ozempic feet” is where you develop lots of wrinkles in your feet. Use of these terms emerged recently on social media platforms like Instagram. That’s after people started commenting on the feet and mouths of celebrities believed to be taking some type of GLP-1 receptor agonist. This may be shocking to you because no one pays attention to other people’s appearance on Instagram, right?
Nonetheless, wrinkles and sagging skin can result when you rapidly lose underlying body tissue and mass. That’s because skin is not like Spanx. It doesn’t automatically snap to form-fit whatever shape is beneath it. If your skin has been stretched for years to cover a certain area or size, your skin will remain that area and size for a while. Therefore, decreasing the mass below the skin can leave your skin looking like leg warmers that are several sizes too large, with wrinkles and billowing.
Keep in mind that “Ozempic [fill in body part here]” can result if you take any GLP-1 receptor agonist. It’s not specific to Ozempic. And by any, I mean any of these oh so popular medications like Wegovy, Zepbound and Mounjuro that can cause rapid weight loss. The key things to remember is that GLP-1 receptor agonists are not like photoshop. You can’t chose where your would like to eliminate body mass and weight. This may be disappointing to people who would like to take all of the body mass that they have in one body part and, umm, shift it to another.
This lack of ability to tailor what moves where is due to how GLP-1 receptor agonists act after they are injected into your body. They work by mimicking what the natural hormone GLP-1 would do. Your body typically releases GLP-1 soon after eating. This stimulates cells in your pancreas to release more insulin and less glucagon. It also slows the rate at which food moves out of your stomach into your intestines so that you feel full longer. Additionally, GLP-1 will reduce your hunger and the food chatter in your head. All of this can lead to your eating less, which can help reduce fat in your body but may reduce the mass of your muscle and other body tissues as well.
How To Reduce Ozempic Mouth And Feet
Of course, one way to avoid Ozempic mouth and feet is to not take Ozempic or any other GLP-1 receptor agonist. While these medications can be very appropriate for those who have already tried unsuccessfully to lose weight via lifestyle modifications, they are not meant to be shortcuts. It is better to make sustainable changes in your diet and exercise regimens that may lead to more gradual weight loss, allowing your body to adjust accordingly.
Keep in mind, as well, that the effects of GLP-1 receptor agonists tend to disappear once you discontinue using the medication. The lost weight can return soon after you’ve discontinued the medication. So, if you are relying on a GLP-1 receptor agonist to keep the weight off, you may have to keep taking it for a long time, like a really long time, like a lifetime long time.
That being said many people need or are still choosing to take the medication, which is typically via weekly injections. If you are doing so and taking the effects to the mouth, so to speak, or feet, you may feel inclined to seek out various cosmetic and plastic surgery solutions. This can include the injection of filler into locations that have lost underlying body tissue. I’ve written for Forbes previously about filler injections in particular body parts that begin with the letters “p” and “s” where I’ve described the risks of using such fillers. The article also details how such filler use is not a permanent solution and requires periodic returns to the plastic surgery specialist. Plus. the use of cosmetic surgery solutions may not necessarily work great if your body is still changing over time.
Using plastic surgery is sort of like using GLP-1 receptor agonists. They can be options if other more natural means don’t work. In general, though, it’s better to go the natural whenever possible when dealing with the effects of rapid weight loss. Try to make sure that you are getting enough nutrients, especially protein, to build up the muscle mass under your skin. Exercise can help, especially weight training and resistance activities. And make sure that you are getting enough rest, sleep and hydration.
The use of GLP-1 receptor agonists has become so popular that some trainers are now offering workout and diet regimens to combat the resulting side effects. Exepct such services to grow in the future as more and more people are dealing with what GLP-1 receptor agonists bring. It could be Ozempic mouth, Ozempic feet or Ozempic whatever other body part is affected. All of this is a reminder that GLP-1 receptor agonists are not magical fixes. Every weight loss measure does require work. It would be quite a feat if someone could come up with some measure that didn’t.
