For a subset of plastic surgeons, the GLP-1/aesthetics crossover moment also included prescribing semaglutide (the active ingredient in Ozempic and Wegovy) to select patients before body-contouring procedures, like tummy tucks, to help them reach a safe weight for surgery (higher BMIs are associated with a greater risk of complications) and to shrink the visceral fat in their abdomens, allowing for a more dramatic cinching of waistlines
Exercise is important: In addition to cardio, its important to do strength training 2 to 4 times per week
Those products come in pre-filled pens with dose selectors calibrated in milligrams
Now, increasingly, we're exploring combined approaches, where surgery provides durable, baseline weight loss and GLP-1 medications can be used strategically, either pre-surgery to improve surgical safety or even post-surgery to support long-term outcomes
These glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists are protein-based medications that require careful handling to maintain their effectiveness