Gemma Collins has been left shocked at the side effects of weight loss medication.
The 44-year-old TV personality has always been candid about her relationship with her body image. In January, she revealed she had started taking weight loss injection Mounjaro, approved by the NHS.
However, the treatment, along with its more famous counterpart, Ozempic, has side effects that can vary according to the individual. Some of these are most noticeable around the face due to the drastic change in weight.
Collins feels that she now looks significantly “older”, after she lost two stone since being on the medication.
“I really don't know what's happened to me,” she wrote in a post on Instagram. “I really don't. It's just come on me overnight. But it has been a year since I've had any little tweakments.”
She continued: “I don't know if it's since I've been losing weight. I sure haven't got ‘Ozempic face’ yet, but it would be the dream right now.”
“Ozempic face” is a term used to describe the change in facial appearance following the drastic weight loss associated with the jab. Experts have warned that users can look more “aged” as key parts of the face become “deflated”.
“I've always had a fuller face, as you know,” Collins continued. “I do like expression around my eyes. I want to look natural still. But this just isn't right. What has happened? I am 44 but this is taking it to levels that I never, ever imagined it'd get to.”
New York-based plastic surgeon Dr Oren Tepper has said the increase in “Ozempic face” is not surprising, in an interview with the New York Times.
“When it comes to facial ageing, fat is typically more friend than foe,” he explained. “Weight loss may turn back your biological age, but it tends to turn your facial clock forward.”
As for whether the side effect can be reversed, the dermatologists said the only way to do so in a noninvasive way is through the injection of fillers, which can cost thousands of dollars.
Though, Dr Tepper says, when a significant amount of weight is lost rapidly, fillers may not be enough to restore lost volume in the face. At that point, he said plastic surgery becomes “the only way to restore the volume loss”. He said individuals using the drugs to lose weight often do not realise the impact it will have on their face.
