Ozempic: slimming pens age the face – 01/27/2023 – Balance

How many injections would you endure to preserve the structural integrity of your face and butt? For a certain segment of the richest 1% of the American population, the sky is the limit.

After giving birth to her first child at age 41, Jennifer Berger struggled to lose the last ten pounds of the 22 she gained in her high-risk pregnancy. “I was doing weights and cardio three to five times a week, controlling everything I ate, and I still couldn’t get rid of those last few extra pounds,” says Berger, who works in fashion merchandising in New York.

Not knowing what else to do, she saw a doctor who suggested tirzepatide, sold under the trade name Mounjaro in the US. It is a new drug against diabetes approved by the FDA (US food and drug regulatory agency) in May 2022. The substance regulates blood sugar, suppresses appetite and, if we believe the discreet reports exchanged recently in a salon beauty, makes the extra kilos disappear as if by magic.

“Everyone is either using Mounjaro or wanting to figure out how to get it,” says New York dermatologist Paul Jarrod Frank. “Since Viagra hit the market, we haven’t seen a prescription drug generate as much buzz.”

Applied weekly, the injection works in a similar way to semaglutides like Wegovy and Ozempic, this is the drug that, according to unconfirmed rumors, would have helped Kim Kardashian fit into the tight-fitting Marilyn Monroe-style dress she wore to the Met Gala. Kardashian has denied these rumours.

In recent months these drugs have been prescribed so frequently for purposes that are not included in their package inserts that they are starting to run out of stock on the market, preventing some diabetics and obese people from accessing the medicines they depend on.

Many doctors fear that the recent popularity of these products, fueled in part by social media, is driving people to take them without the necessary medical supervision. This is risky, considering the possibility of rare but serious side effects such as thyroid cancer, pancreatitis and kidney failure. And drugs like Ozempic can also cause less serious but still debilitating symptoms, including nausea, vomiting and rapid heartbeat, as many videos on TikTok attest (see #ozempic).

Some of the side effects “are extremely rare if the drug is prescribed at the correct dose and used with careful medical supervision,” says New York endocrinologist Rocio Salas-Whalen, who claims to have prescribed this family of drugs and their predecessors to more than 8,000 people. patients since 2005.

“Mounjaro is like the Apple 14 of these drugs,” says Salas-Whalen, who has not treated Berger. The endocrinologist said the drug has the same power to control blood sugar as Wegovy and Ozempic, but that among her patients, she has witnessed “nearly twice as much weight loss and almost none of the side effects.”

The FDA reported that in its clinical trials, done with diabetics, patients who used Mounjaro lost an average of six pounds more than those who took drugs like Ozempic. Salas-Whalen, who previously worked for Wegovy and Ozempic maker Novo Nordisk, says he has seen similar results in non-diabetic patients.

Mounjaro may sound like the closest thing to a surefire weight-loss solution since bariatric surgery was first performed in 1954, but it’s not without its risks. The drug package contains a black label, warning about the possibility of thyroid C-cell tumors. Like the first generation of these drugs, in rodent trials Mounjaro increased the risk of a rare type of thyroid cancer called medullary thyroid carcinoma.

None of these drugs are cheap: unless the patient is obese and has at least one other “weight-related condition” (such as high cholesterol, hypertension or diabetes), health insurance generally does not cover the drugs, which can cost more than US$1,000 per month (about R$5,100).

The emergence of the “face of Ozempic”

Berger, who underwent fertility treatments to get pregnant, says she didn’t hesitate to get a weekly injection in the abdomen or shell out nearly $1,000 a month for the drug. And Mounjaro lived up to their expectations. In three months she lost those last twenty pounds that wouldn’t go away.

“It was like flipping a switch,” he says. “I’d look at food and not even feel like eating, and I’m a food person! I practically had to remind myself to eat. All those food cravings just disappeared.”

Berger was overjoyed with her new body. But the accelerated weight loss had a major side effect: her face suddenly got thin, haggard-looking.

“I remember looking in the mirror and almost not recognizing myself. My body felt great, but my face looked exhausted, aged.”

New York plastic surgeon Oren Tepper says it’s common for weight loss to lead to rapid thinning of key areas of the face, causing an aged appearance. “In terms of facial aging, fat favors the person,” he says. “Weight loss can slow down your body clock but speed up your facial clock.”

Dhaval Bhanusali is a New York dermatologist whose famous patients include Martha Stewart. He has observed the same thing in his office. “We’re seeing more and more patients who are using these drugs. It’s usually people in their 40s or 50s who are losing significant weight and are concerned about aging and resulting facial sagging.”

Non-invasive procedures like Fraxel can improve skin texture and reduce wrinkles, but according to Frank, the only non-invasive way to restore volume to the face is fillers, which cost a few thousand dollars.

To restore youthful volume to Berger’s face, Frank used Radiesse and hyaluronic acid-based fillers in strategic spots – around the temples, under the eyes, in the buccal crevices and around the jaw, mouth and lips.

To restore volume easily, Bhanusali uses Radiesse in conjunction with Sculptra, an injectable that stimulates collagen production and whose effect can last up to 24 months (Bhanusali was a consultant for Galderma, the manufacturer of Sculptra). “The idea is to balance the face to combat hollowing and downward projection in the cheeks, jowls and other areas,” he explains.

“Luxury medicine”

Tepper said he can eliminate any trace of the “Ozempic face” with a deep face lift, which costs $75,000. He usually performs the facelift along with a procedure where fat is transferred from other parts of the body to the face (an additional $8,000-$12,000).

The high prices for these treatments are out of reach for most people, but for patients like Berger, who stopped using Mounjaro after regaining her pre-pregnancy weight, feeling healthy and confident again is worth every penny spent.

“I can’t even tell you how pleased I am with myself right now,” she said. “I used to hide from my husband when I got out of the shower. I literally walked backwards so he wouldn’t see my back. Now I don’t worry anymore. Because I feel great. I feel like I’m back to myself.”

Translated by Clara Allain