People taking wildly popular drugs Ozempic and Wegovy are finding themselves losing hair along with pounds.
The Girl With No Job creator Claudia Oshry talked recently about the hair loss she experienced while taking Ozempic.
“It didn’t thin but it started SHEDDING – which is literally worse,” she posted in a Q&A with fans.
Others have taken to social media to express their horror about the phenomenon.
“I’ve been on Ozempic and I’ve nearly lost all of my hair. Nothing stops it. It’s been a real nightmare,” one person posted in a thread in an Ozempic subreddit with 81,000 members. Another user said they counted the loss of 300 to 500 hairs a day, and added that they lost “15 pounds in 4 months, but in the end, it wasn’t worth it.”
Hair loss is not listed as a side effect by the manufacturer of the diabetes drugs that are commonly used off-label for weight loss, but it is a troubling link that doctors and hair stylists have been reporting among the growing population taking the meds to shed pounds.
“There have been many reports of people experiencing hair loss” when taking drugs like Ozempic, said Dr. Christina Han, a dermatologist that specializes in hair loss.
Ozempic and other such drugs are “likely” not directly causing the problem, Han said.
It’s the sudden and rapid weight loss that can “lead to a disruption to the natural growth cycle of hair follicles,” she said.
In this “telogen phase of the growth cycle . . . the follicles are not actively growing and more hairs are pushed into the shedding phase.”
The most common side effects of the weight-loss injections are nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, abdominal pain and constipation.
But the drugs have been associated with myriad others, including Ozempic butt and boobs, impotence, personality changes, reckless behavior and more ER visits.
“Hair loss was reported as an infrequent side effect in Wegovy clinical trials,” a spokesperson for Novo Nordisk, manufacturer of Ozempic and Wegovy, said in response to an inquiry.
One hair stylist said the hair of clients on the drugs is “lifeless; it changes texture and density.”
Though they are displeased with the situation, they would rather be thin, she said.
Hair colorist Shayla Starks saw dramatic hair loss following weight loss surgery in 2018.
So when she started on Ozempic in February, she began applying a hair loss scalp lotion to prevent it.
“When you shock the body with Ozempic, or major surgeries or anything like that, the body gets stuck in that shedding phase, so I started taking a product that actually stopped the shedding phase and I haven’t experienced any hair loss,” Starks, 42, said.
Weight loss specialist Dr. Sue Decotiis said hair loss can often be avoided by consuming the proper nutrients and water.
Regardless of how you take care of yourself though, people on the drugs can still lose hair.
In those cases, Decotiis said, “we just reassure people it’s gonna grow back. And by the time it grows back, you’re gonna be three sizes smaller and … they’re going to be very happy.”
