The Ozempic Freak-Out That’s Missing The Point

“Ozempic ears” are all the rage in plastic surgery these days. They seem to be the new side effect of using GLP-1 meds such as Ozempic and Wegovy. Apparently, people are showing up with thinner, sagging earlobes and asking for fillers or reductions. The media have dutifully turned this into the latest reason to panic about weight-loss drugs. What the hysterics are missing, though, is that like most things in life, there are trade-offs. In this case, very, very big ones.

When I weighed 320 pounds at 5’4,” nobody cared about my earlobes. To be fair, they were one of my daintiest parts. Nobody worried about my jowls, whether my arms were toned, or whether my skin would someday sag. The message was simple: Lose weight. Now that millions are finally doing it, the media is hyping the side effects of weight loss with little discussion of what people are gaining.

I tried to play the weight loss and body image game for most of my life. As a kid, I survived the golden age of terrible weight-loss advice, programs, and how-to schemes. There were diet shakes, diet cookies, diet gum, diet pills, and enough public humiliation to fuel a lifetime of Gen X cynicism. I was the chubby kid who learned to fake being sick on school weigh-in days because at my elementary school, we were weighed in front of the entire class once a year.

I carried that weight into adulthood. Over the years, I tried physician-supervised programs, fad diets, fen-phen, Lap-Band surgery, and countless promises of easy fixes. Some worked for a while. Most didn’t. By my 40th birthday, I was over 300 pounds, unemployed, drowning in debt, and struggling physically and emotionally.

Eventually, after regaining weight following Lap-Band surgery, I made a different decision. I underwent gastric bypass surgery in 2018. That decision became the beginning of a long process of successful weight loss and lifestyle choices that include daily yoga, weightlifting, food tracking, accountability, and gradually building habits I can sustain. In total, I’ve lost 170 pounds in middle age, which makes me extra proud. I didn’t reach my high school weight; I reached my elementary school weight!

Now, having experienced all the “negative” cosmetic side effects of extreme weight loss myself, I find the latest panic over “Ozempic ears” fascinating.

According to recent reports, plastic surgeons are seeing patients concerned about thinner or sagging earlobes after significant weight loss from GLP-1 medications. Other cosmetic concerns have earned equally catchy nicknames: “Ozempic face,” “Ozempic breast,” “Ozempic butt,” and a growing list of body changes associated with fat loss.

As someone who has had them all and then some, I can say these are pretty good problems to have. 

For decades, obesity has been one of America’s most serious health challenges. We know excess weight increases the risk of heart disease, diabetes, joint problems, sleep apnea, and countless other conditions. And we know about it because we’re constantly bombarded with information and data and breathless reporting about how unhealthy Americans are — most of it weight-related.

Now that millions of people have access to medications that help them lose substantial weight and improve their health, the media present them with reasons not to do it. Fortunately, U.S. adult obesity rates have ticked down recently (from a peak of around 40% to around 37% in 2025), and some see it coinciding with wider GLP-1 use.

The cosmetic concerns are real. Significant weight loss changes the body. But here’s the part many people miss: These changes aren’t unique to GLP-1 medications. They’re part of major weight loss.

Whether someone loses 100 pounds through surgery, semaglutide, intermittent fasting, CrossFit, Weight Watchers, or sheer stubbornness, skin that stretched over years or decades doesn’t snap back.

This is one of the reasons I wrote “The Gen X Handbook for Middle Age” after losing 170 pounds in my 40s. I didn’t wake up looking like a fitness influencer. When I looked in the mirror, I saw someone who was melting. There was loose skin. There were body parts that no longer matched the picture in my head of who I was (goodbye, boobs). There were reminders of every pound I had carried. There were pre-weight loss clothes I still wore because they covered my arms and apron belly. That’s what led me to plastic surgery: not vanity, but completion.

After saving money for years and several consultations with my surgeon in Austin, Texas, I underwent a brachioplasty (arm lift), thighplasty (thigh lift), mastopexy (breast lift), and an abdominoplasty with a 360-degree body lift over a period of a year. Every scar represents a choice I made to improve my health. Every procedure came after years of effort, setbacks, plateaus, and persistence. To be honest, I have a couple more on my wish list as 50 approaches.

This is why I get frustrated when the media hype weight-loss medications, suggesting they cause unique side effects and raising questions in people’s minds about whether weight loss is worth it. Ozempic gets clicks. It, and weight loss in general, also saves lives.

People who have never struggled with obesity often underestimate how difficult long-term weight loss can be. If a medication helps someone lose 100 pounds, lower blood sugar, avoid diabetes, reduce joint pain, and add years to his or her life, I don’t want users to care about what happens to their earlobes. It seems like pretty small potatoes. Would you caution a friend struggling with obesity not to lose weight because of saggy earlobes and loose skin?

If people choose to have a facelift, body lift, arm lift, or no surgery at all afterward, that’s their decision, too. The benefits of weight loss far outweigh the negative side effects puffed up by the media.

The best weight-loss plan isn’t the hardest one. It’s the one that works. For some people, that’s strength training and meal prep. For others, it’s GLP-1 medications. For me, it was gastric bypass surgery and lifestyle changes. Most of us end up using a combination of tools to maintain weight loss. The media are focusing on the wrong side of weight loss, be it Ozempic or anything else. The obsession with “Ozempic ears” misses the bigger story: People are finally reclaiming their health.

I’m Gen X. I survived public weigh-ins, SnackWell’s, Jazzercise, fen-phen, and “just eat less” lectures from strangers on the street. I’ll survive “Ozempic face.”

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Lisa De Pasquale is an author, columnist, and the former director of the Conservative Political Action Conference. She’s a frequent guest on Fox News and Fox Business, the founder of “Bright” on Substack, and the author of “The Gen X Handbook for Middle Age: The Pursuit of Health, Success, and Human Fulfillment.”

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