LONDON/PARIS: Swiss skincare firm Galderma, Brazilian cosmetics group Natura and beauty giant L'Oreal are testing treatments for consumers worried about facial sagging and volume loss, looking to capitalise on a growing market tied to the boom in obesity drugs.
The companies are targeting concerns known as "Ozempic face," a term that emerged as the diabetes drug became widely associated with weight loss. Experts say the loss of facial volume is linked to rapid weight loss rather than GLP-1 drugs themselves.
GLP-1 drugs, such as Novo Nordisk's Ozempic and Wegovy and Eli Lilly's Zepbound, help people to lose weight by mimicking a hormone that keeps the stomach feeling full. Along with gastrointestinal side effects, the resulting rapid weight loss can also lead to loose skin on the face and body.
Pfizer estimates the obesity drug market could reach $150 billion in annual sales by 2030, helping create a potentially lucrative opportunity for skincare and medical aesthetics companies as more patients seek treatments for skin laxity and facial volume loss after rapid weight loss.
Revenue from these clinical treatments is projected to grow from about $700 million to $2 billion over the next five years, according to 2025 estimates by Boston Consulting Group.
Michael Somenek, a Washington, DC-based facial plastic surgeon and clinical associate professor at the George Washington University School of Medicine, said he had seen a surge of requests for treatment by GLP-1 patients in the past year.
"When you're looking at a large amount of weight loss over four to six months, that can really have impact on the volume within your face," he said.
Companies chase the opportunity
Galderma, 20%-owned by L'Oreal, ran a study last year evaluating how some of its existing treatments perform on skin changes associated with GLP-1 weight-loss drugs.
"Sagginess is a concern, loss of firmness is a concern, some hollowness can be of concern and dullness can be a concern," said Anne-Cecile Chevrier, global head of injectable aesthetics at Galderma. The Swiss company makes Sculptra, a treatment that stimulates natural collagen, and Restylane, a dermal filler made with hyaluronic acid.
Chevrier said that although the treatments were not approved specifically for GLP-1 users, Galderma is working with tens of thousands of plastic surgeons and other aestheticians globally who market them to patients on weight-loss drugs.
In the United States, 53% of aesthetics clinics anticipate an influx of new patients due to prescription weight-loss medications, according to a 2024 report by research firm Medical Insight, and 43% believe the increased use of these medications will drive demand for treatments addressing weight-loss-medication-induced facial changes.
L'Oreal is also exploring this market.
"We are now testing products on GLP-1 users in separate studies, as this group of consumers is becoming increasingly important and represents a significant number of people worldwide," said Delphine Viguier-Hovasse, L'Oreal's chief innovation and prospective officer.
Manuel Krauss, Natura's chief innovation and R&D officer, said the company is testing existing products directly with GLP-1 users and developing a new generation of treatments.
"GLP-1 is creating new beauty needs at unprecedented speed, but it is also showing us that the future of beauty cannot be defined by creams alone," Krauss said, noting that future innovation may combine different formats such as supplements and ingestibles.
A more complicated picture
Other factors can be at play in patients experiencing skin or facial volume issues.
According to analysts at the US health policy organisation KFF, GLP-1 drugs are used most widely by adults aged 50 to 64, an age group already experiencing declines in collagen and, particularly among menopausal women, estrogen production.
"We don't have the research and it is probably going to be a challenging study to do because most of the female patients (on GLP-1 drugs) are perimenopausal or postmenopausal," said Heidi Young, a Northern California-based physician associate and co-owner of R+H Aesthetic Medicine.
She added that some people taking GLP-1 drugs do not eat nutritious food often, which could also affect their skin: "I think it's definitely multifactorial and I don't think there is a direct answer."
Do the products work?
Beibei Du-Harpur, a consultant dermatologist and clinical lecturer at King’s College London, said the term "Ozempic face" is misleading.
"The drug doesn’t melt your collagen - simply losing weight in a more sustainable, less rapid way would reduce some of the more severe changes people see."
Experts said some skincare products may improve the appearance and quality of skin affected but cannot fully address the underlying loss of facial volume.
"To a certain extent some of these creams can be helpful," said Dr Graeme Glass, plastic and craniofacial surgeon and aesthetic director at British beauty brand LYMA.
Creams can work on the epidermis and contain molecules small enough to reach the dermis. "What they can't really do is they can't alter the ligamental structure of your face," he said.
"They can't reposition the deep fat pads of the face ... there is a limit to what these things can do."
Du-Harpur said beauty companies were "all desperately trying to develop a GLP-1-targeting product."
She said treatments such as fillers that use injections worked better than creams as they could reach the dermis, the middle and thickest layer of human skin.
"What’s actually losing volume is the layer below that - the fat layer - and there has never been any evidence that topical skincare products can reach that fat layer."