Your face after weight loss
Losing weight can be wonderful for your health and still leave your face looking more tired than you feel. Our doctors look at what has changed and plan a gradual, natural-looking way forward.
Available at our Cobham, Esher and Wimbledon clinics. Morpheus8 and Secret PRO are at Cobham and Wimbledon.
Why rapid weight loss changes the face
Your face is built in layers, with distinct pads of fat between the muscle and the skin. Those pads give the cheeks their gentle fullness, keep the under-eye area smooth and support the skin around the mouth and jaw. When weight comes off quickly, whether through GLP-1 medication or a serious change in diet and exercise, they shrink along with everything else.
The skin does not shrink back at the same pace. The result can be a face that looks hollow and drawn: flatter cheeks, sunken temples and under-eyes, deeper folds around the nose and mouth, more obvious jowls and new fine lines. The look is sometimes called Ozempic face, although it is not limited to any one medication.
We all lose facial fat and collagen with age, but usually over many years, which gives skin time to adapt. Rapid weight loss compresses that timeline into months, and the older you are, the less spring your skin tends to have. None of this means the weight loss was a mistake. The changes come down to lost volume and reduced skin support, and both can be addressed on their own terms, in three parts.
Collagen boosters, to rebuild support
Collagen boosters ask your skin to rebuild its own support. They are gradual by design, so you look rested rather than treated. Dr Yasmin Tayeb, our founder, calls Radiesse and HArmonyCa a patient’s best friend after rapid weight loss. All three are planned and injected by our doctors.
Sculptra
Poly-L-lactic acid that prompts your own collagen and elastin. Galderma, the maker, describes it as working across all three skin layers, with results lasting more than two years. Individual results vary.
Radiesse
Calcium hydroxylapatite in a gel. The gel gives immediate support, then collagen builds, with improvement visible from around three months and able to last well over a year before a top-up is considered.
HArmonyCa
A hybrid of hyaluronic acid, for an immediate lift and volume, and calcium hydroxylapatite, for collagen that keeps building over the following weeks. Often useful for the cheeks and jawline.
Skin tightening, once skin has started to sag
When skin has lost the support beneath it, tightening helps it sit closer again. Morpheus8 radiofrequency microneedling and Secret PRO both carry heat through fine needles into the deeper skin. Existing collagen contracts, and fresh collagen and elastin form over the following weeks and months.
Numbing cream goes on first. Expect some redness for a day or two, with fuller results building over three to six months across a short course of sessions. Secret PRO can also add a fractional CO2 laser where the surface of the skin needs resurfacing.
For the jawline and neck, our guide to neck lines and sagging skin goes into more detail.
Dermal fillers, to refill where volume was lost
Once the skin is firmer and the deeper support has been rebuilt, there may still be a specific place that needs a little more: flattened cheeks, hollow temples, deflated lips or a jawline that has lost its edge. Hyaluronic acid dermal fillers give immediate, precise volume exactly where they are placed.
We use filler as the finishing step rather than the whole plan, restoring only what has been lost. Nobody wants to trade a gaunt look for an overfilled one. For the mid-face, cheek fillers can restore lift, and tear trough filler can soften hollowing under the eyes.
As with any facial injectable, rare vascular complications are possible, and our doctors follow strict safety and emergency protocols.
Weight loss and your face, explained
Timing your plan around your weight loss
No two faces lose fat in the same pattern, so there is no set package. Your doctor assesses where the volume has gone and how much your skin has retracted, checks what is suitable for you at consultation, and agrees the order that makes sense for your face. Treatments are usually staggered over several months, which leaves room to adjust as your face responds.
If you are still losing weight, your face will keep changing, so we talk through timing to help your results hold up rather than being chased by further volume loss.
Our work here is your face and skin. Please tell us about any medication you take, but anything about the medication itself stays with the clinician who prescribes it. If you have noticed loose skin elsewhere too, our body contouring treatments are planned in the same considered way.
Pricing
Prices include VAT, an initial consultation and a review appointment. Your doctor confirms your plan and price at consultation, including any Radiesse plan beyond the combination shown here.
Additional Sculptra vials are discounted from the fourth. Your doctor discusses how many you might need at consultation.
Frequently asked questions
Not reliably, and not quickly. Facial fat does not necessarily return in the same way or in the same places, and skin laxity will not tighten by itself. A planned course of treatment is usually the more predictable route.
In most cases, no. What matters more is timing treatment sensibly around your weight loss. Please tell us about any medication you take at consultation. Questions about the medication itself are for the clinician who prescribes it.
It is worth talking through. If you are still actively losing weight, your face will keep changing, so your doctor will discuss timing with you so that your results can hold up.
Dermal fillers give an immediate result. HArmonyCa gives an immediate lift, then firmness builds. Radiesse is gradual, with visible improvement from around three months and continued benefit through six months and beyond. RF microneedling can give some early tightening, with the fuller effect building over three to six months.
The aim is the opposite. Much of the plan relies on gradual collagen stimulation rather than added volume, and filler is used as a finishing step, restoring only what has been lost. The goal is to look rested and like yourself.
Hyaluronic acid dermal fillers can be dissolved with hyaluronidase if ever needed. Sculptra and Radiesse are not hyaluronic acid and cannot be dissolved in the same way, which is why your doctor plans them so carefully.
None of these treatments lasts for ever. Galderma reports Sculptra results lasting more than two years. Radiesse can last well over a year before a top-up is considered. Filler typically lasts many months to a couple of years, depending on the product and the area. Individual results vary.
Many people notice changes on the body too. RF microneedling is also used for loose skin on the body after weight change, and your practitioner can talk you through our body contouring treatments at consultation.
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