People who have been using Ozempic have been complaining of a bizarre side-effect, which has been nicknamed ‘Ozempic butt’.
The phenomenon has swept the US and overseas, as people – including celebrities – have jumped on the ‘trend’ to take the drug ‘Ozempic’ to help them lose weight – something its developers Novo Nordisk has warned against.
For those who aren’t aware of the drug, which has been the subject of a media frenzy over the last few years, it comes in the form of a weekly injection that helps lower blood sugar levels in your body by assisting the pancreas in producing more insulin.
It was approved in the US back in 2017 for use in adults with type 2 diabetes.
According to UC Davis Health – the University of California‘s medical center – Ozempic isn’t approved for weight loss, but a drug under the name Wegovy is approved that contains a greater dose of semaglutide, which Ozempic and Wegovy both cover.
Diabetes UK explain that adults with type 2 diabetes can take the drug, with guidelines from the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) recommending it be prescribed if ‘using three medications have not been effective’ or ‘you have not been able to take the medications’.
Despite Ozempic being successful in some users losing weight, it seems some have experienced unexpected side-effects – such as ‘Ozempic butt’.
Jess Loren is one of those people who has been noticing their bodies change – and not just because of the fact that the once-227-pound 39-year-old dropped more than 75 pounds.
“My dad said, ‘you don’t have a butt anymore’,” she told the New York Post. “I try on bathing suits and I’ve got ‘ghost a**’, or what people online call ‘Ozempic butt’.”
But what is the phenomenon?
Cadogan Clinic, a team of cosmetic surgeons in London, explained that it takes place when ‘the overlying skin hasn’t been able to return to its original position’, which leaves behind a ‘loose and saggy appearance’.
“One of the areas this is often most noticeable is around the buttocks,” it writes.
“This is due to there being a high amount of fat in the buttocks and can be exacerbated if there is a decrease in muscle mass affecting the glutes – two of the largest muscles in the body.”
Yes, it isn’t Ozempic itself causing the phenomenon, it’s just the sheer pace your body sheds fat.
“It’s the rapid weight loss that is occurring with the use of these medications that are giving those the Ozempic face and the Ozempic breast and the Ozempic butt,” adds Dr. Iman Saleh, director of Obesity Medicine South Shore University Hospital, New York, who sat down with PEOPLE to discuss these side-effects.
Novo Nordisk declined to comment when approached by UNILAD.
