What happens when weight-loss jabs like Mounjaro and Wegovy leave you with loose skin?

Weight loss jabs have been hailed as “transformational”, but what happens when patients are left with excess skin?

Both Mounjaro (tirzepatide) and Wegovy (semaglutide) are weight-loss medicines that make people feel fuller for longer and therefore less hungry.

The drugs have been helping thousands of people at risk of poor health due to obesity to lose huge amounts of weight rapidly. Many are also prescribed weight-loss drugs privately.

Common side effects such as nausea and headaches are well documented and users are provided with guidance about what to do if they experience them.

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But dramatic weight loss can also result in sagging or loose skin. Those who want the excess skin to be removed can face issues.

The procedure is not routinely provided by the NHS, with treatment only provided on an exceptional case basis in line with the “Exceptional Referral Protocol”.

The rules state that patients should only be referred following a clinical assessment where there is a symptomatic or functional issue amenable to treatment.

All cases are judged against agreed criteria on an individual basis, and referral does not necessarily mean that treatment will be offered.

“It is is transformational in terms of weight loss. It is the first drug I have ever had in my 20-year career that does seem to work”
Dr Becky Howie, GP and lifestyle medicine doctor

Dr Becky Howie, a GP and lifestyle medicine specialist, told STV News that if a patient came to her, she would make a referral for plastic surgery through an exceptional circumstances channel.

She said: “Patients would have to see a psychologist to prove they’re traumatised by the excess skin.

“It takes a long time – many, many years to go through stages of assessment. You would have to prove psychological and physical health harm, such as chronic infection or ulcers.

“It is incredibly difficult to access.

“If you lose weight too fast, the excess skin is going to be a bigger problem, but also once you get to a certain age, even if you lose it slowly, due to the elasticity of your skin, you’re not going to get the same shrinking back into shape.”

“There’s a huge world of those looking to get bikini body ready… That is not what they are made for”
Dr Becky Howie, GP and Lifestyle Medicine Doctor.

Dr Howie said the criteria to get referred to services for weight loss drugs is “strict”.

“The referrals we do get rejections more often than not, even though they appear to fit the criteria,” she told STV News.

“I have not seen in real life people getting the prescription through the NHS. Most people are getting it privately.

“It is transformational in terms of weight loss. It is the first drug I have ever had in my 20-year career that does seem to work.

“The problem is if it’s prescribed without seeing the person’s lifestyle, how they have ended up with obesity in the first place, all the research suggests they regain the weight when the injections stop.

“It has to be a tool to be used alongside significant life changes.”

She added: “There’s two worlds of people taking them; those with morbid obesity who absolutely should have access. They’re lifesaving for them.

“There’s a huge world of those looking to get bikini body ready. That is not what they are made for.

“They just want to lose some pounds or get ripped. There is that risk of the wrong people getting hold of them.”