Bloomberg just dropped the bombshell that the Ozempic boom has been a gold mine for plastic surgeons… we’ve been saying this since 2022 when we started helping providers start their own weight loss programs! While the article discusses the increase in body contouring procedures like tummy tucks after patients develop excess skin with their weight loss, the article misses a major aspect of the Ozempic story. This has been a financial gold mine as well as an outcomes goldmine for all providers and their patients!
Financial Gold Mine
After the pandemic aesthetic boom – 2020 and 2021 were very conducive to cosmetic surgery since patients could recover while working from home and unable to travel – the surgery business has been in the doldrums. But as more patients started weight loss medications like Ozempic, Wegovy, Mounjaro and Zepbound, their weight loss led to a need for skin removal, ie cosmetic surgery, ie body contouring surgery.
But it was also an opportunity for plastic surgeons and all providers to start offering weight loss medications as a service. Since the name brand medications were and still are on the FDA shortage list, the FDA allows compounding pharmacies to make a duplicate of the active ingredients, semaglutide and tirzepatide, found in the name brand drugs Ozempic/Wegovy and Moujaro/Zepbound respectively.
Patients require a monthly subscription for the medication. And because they can be easily obtained from compounding pharmacies at a lower cost, practices don’t typically offer this as a service covered by insurance. This has led to a new cash-based service for all providers, whether they were previously insurance-based or cash pay practices.
So not only is the Ozempic boom beneficial for practices offering body contouring procedures, it’s beneficial to any provider that treats an ailment that may have obesity as an underlying cause. And since you can tie obesity to pretty much any major condition in America – type 2 diabetes, hypertension, sleep apnea, fatty liver, infertility and acne – you’re making the case that all providers in America could and should offer these medication subscriptions to their patients!
Outcomes Gold Mine
Not only is Ozempic a gold mine financially for all providers offering these medication subscriptions to their patients, the results are also improving outcomes in the patients taking them. In the focus of the Bloomberg article, these medications led to weight loss and excess skin, necessitating removal of the skin during a tummy tuck.
The medications also reduce visceral fat, the fat around the intestines that can’t be treated surgically. So even if a patient had a beautiful tummy tuck and the excess skin was removed, in the past, a great result was thwarted due to the excess visceral fat that caused a bulge to the upper abdomen.
With these weight loss medications prior to cosmetic body contouring, the visceral fat is reduced and the result is even better in conjunction with a tummy tuck. Prior to Ozempic, plastic surgeons and their patients may have been forced to accept mediocre results because the patient couldn’t lose the visceral fat naturally prior to a tummy tuck. Now with pharmacological help, the patient loses the weight and with skin removal, an amazing outcome is more achievable!
Start your own weight management program now!
No matter what kind of provider you are, you should be offering weight loss medications in your practice. It’s a great “bolt on” service that is not only great financially but the instant gratification you’ll see in patients is so satisfying. And what did you go into medicine for if it wasn’t to create happy patients! Get started here or schedule a demo here.
