Apparently, Now We Have to Worry About ‘Ozempic Vulva’

“When you have any kind of rapid weight loss, you get saggy skin, and women have noticed that, especially the labia majora—outside labia or bigger labia part of the vulva—gets more saggy,” Dr. Gabal says. “Same thing happens in the face. People were talking about Ozempic face, because they were losing volume in their face, where, if you're chubby, your wrinkles go away. But if now that that volume, that fat, goes away, then the collagen, elastin, everything's kind of stretched out and it's saggy. The same thing happens to the labia.”

Dr. Matlock, a Beverly Hills-based surgeon who has pioneered female genital reconstruction, says that he sees many women who, though already slim, take GLP-1s and become so thin on the drug that skin is slack all over their body including their belly, butt and yes, vaginal area. He and Gabal agree that most of the patients they see are seeking treatment for cosmetic purposes (“Doctor, I want to be like I’m 16 again,” Dr Matlock recalls patients saying).

By contrast, dietitian Karine Patel describes Ozempic vulva as “how women describe changes in their intimate health, like irritation, dryness, and discomfort after starting Ozempic.” She says that body fat helps regulate estrogen levels, so a sudden drop can lead to less estrogen production, one of the most important hormones for supporting vaginal tissue elasticity, moisture and comfort. So, another factor could be the “hormonal fluctuations caused by rapid weight loss or changes in the body fat composition. As a result, women who take Ozempic may suffer from the same symptoms as those of perimenopause or menopause, such as increased sensitivity or dryness in the vulva area.”

Patel says that yes, some women may go through some pain or discomfort. “This can include burning, itching, soreness during movement or sex, and general irritation around the vulva from thinning of the fragile tissue and dryness,” she says. “In some cases, small tears or inflammation can happen as the skin becomes weak.”

Treatments range from the temporary and topical—Patel recommends rubbing on lubricates, moisturizers or estrogen treatments for pain over thinning skin—to permanent surgical interventions. Dr. Gabal treats the condition with an in-office procedure called the vampire wing lift. “It’s kind of like a vampire facial, but we take platelet rich plasma and we put that back into the labia majora to plump it up,” she says. “In previous years it was just mostly for aging and the sagging of the vulva from natural aging. But it's been a lot more popular recently because of the rapid weight loss that we've seen even in younger women with the GLP-1s.” (Gabal says that she’s been trained for years to do the vampire wing lift, but in the last 12 to 18 months, five to 10 times as many women have inquired about it.) Dr. Matlock describes removing fat from one section of a patient’s body, say the thigh, and injecting it into the labia to plump it up. Alternatively, he can surgically remove some of the excess skin.

After speaking to all the medical professionals who have seen an uptick in complaints of Ozempic vulva, I started thinking of how, for better and worse, the function and the appearance of female genitalia had moved from a hidden concern to center stage in women’s health and wellness. “If it's about their body image and feeling better about themselves, it should be acceptable, that they want to do this,” Dr. Gabal says. “I think we're at the point where we were maybe 20 to 30 years ago, when breast enhancement was not as accepted, and people were hiding the fact that they'd had a boob job. But now, everyone's out in the open, practically saying ‘Would you like to see my boobs?’.”