What GLP-1 Medications Are Really Doing to Your Skin — The Science Behind “GLP Face™"
In my last post, I shared how I first started noticing subtle, but unmistakable, changes in my patients’ skin after they began using GLP-1 medications like Ozempic or Wegovy.
Today, I want to take you deeper into the science, because understanding why these changes happen is the key to knowing how to prevent (and even reverse) them.
What we’re seeing isn’t just a side effect of rapid weight loss, something most of my colleagues belive. It’s something much more complex, it is a direct biological shift in how your skin functions. And it’s something the beauty industry simply wasn’t prepared for, myself included.
How GLP-1s Work — And What That Means for Your Skin
GLP-1 medications were originally developed to help people with type 2 diabetes help manage blood sugar, but they quickly became widely used for weight loss because of how they work. These medications mimic a natural hormone called glucagon-like peptide-1, which helps regulate appetite, slows digestion, and alters how your body handles glucose and fat.
That’s great for weight loss but here’s where it gets interesting for your skin.
Your skin isn’t just a surface — it’s an incredibly active organ, our largest organ, constantly regenerating itself. That process depends heavily on cellular energy, nutrient delivery, and metabolic signaling, all of which can be subtly affected by GLP-1 medications
Beyond Weight Loss: GLP-1’s Direct Effect on Skin
There’s no doubt that losing weight changes your face. Volume loss in the cheeks, temples, and jawline is normal after significant weight loss - we’ve known that for years.
But what I saw in my patients wasn’t just volume loss. It was a fundamental shift in skin quality itself — thinner, more crepey, less resilient skin, even in areas where volume loss wasn’t the main issue.
Here’s what I believe is happening, based on the medical literature:
Collagen Production Slows Down — Fibroblasts: the skin cells responsible for making collagen, become less active when exposed to certain metabolic shifts, including the kind triggered by GLP-1s. This leaves skin structurally weaker.
Skin Repair Slows, Too — Healthy skin relies on constant turnover — old cells sloughing off, new ones rising to the surface. GLP-1s appear to slow cellular turnover, meaning skin loses that natural glow and bounce.
The Barrier Becomes More Fragile — Skin isn’t just a beauty surface, it’s a protective barrier. When turnover slows and collagen thins, the skin barrier itself weakens, making skin more prone to dehydration and environmental damage.
The Double Hit: Weight Loss + Direct Skin Aging
The result is a double-aging effect — part of it from losing structural fat (which happens with any major weight loss), but part of it from biological changes to the skin itself that appear to be caused by the medication.
This is what makes GLP-1 skin different from the natural aging process.It’s not just skin getting older.It’s skin that’s metabolically stressed — thinner, slower to repair, and less able to bounce back.
Why Skincare Hasn’t Caught Up…Yet
The truth is, most skincare products are designed to address chronological aging — the slow, gradual decline in collagen and elastin that happens over decades.
But GLP-1 aging isn’t chronological. Research suggests it’s induced by a medication that’s changing the skin at the cellular level. That requires a completely different formulation strategy — one that helps support:
Supporting increased fibroblast activity, to help restore collagen production
Rebuilding the skin’s density, not just surface hydration
Supporting cellular energy, to support the skin repairing itself faster
Reinforcing the barrier, to lock in moisture and resilience
That’s the gap I set out to fill with Dr. Few Skincare’s newest formula: DermaReverse™. The first skincare product that’s been specifically designed and clinically tested on GLP-1 skin.
In my next post, I’ll take you behind the scenes of the clinical study we ran to map exactly what was happening in the skin and how it shaped the formula we ultimately created.
— Dr. Few
this is amazing! congratulations! can’t wait to try.