Hair Loss Was Just the Start. Ozempic Users Are Also Reporting Nail Trouble

By Autobot 3 Oct 2026 in cm0002 Original post by cm0002@europe.pub 3 Oct 2026 on world@quokk.au

Linked article gizmodo.com ↗

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24 comments

Solumbran27

Rarely seen such obsession over a medicine to try to create distrust.

Also the article bssicsy says "nothing is reliable, and even if it were, it'z likely to be caused by preexisting conditions and not by the GLP"

People really are terrified of others losing weight, huh.
- Feyd15
  
  I have some family that really turned their life around with these drugs and I think it was worth it, but the combination of the fact the expectation is to take them forever and that they've only been in wide usage for a few years does make me a bit worried there might be yet to be noticed long term side effects like we discovered with proton pump inhibitors
  - RecursiveParadox11
    
    I was still in pharma/biotech when the PPIs went OTC and saw first hand how the Agency struggled with the OTC approval. With drugs/biologics like this, there is just no good way to model out 20+ years of daily use, so you basically look for proxies, which are very, very, um ...proximal.
- TheSambassador5
  
  Because drugs releasing as miracles have a history of shoving side effects, especially long-term ones, under the rug. Weight loss stuff especially is such a hot product that people are willing to shrug off a lot for the promise of results.
- SaveTheTuaHawk4
  
  No, Glp-1 is a brain active hormone. Anytime you start artificially dosing a hormone you will get secondary effects. The idea that all these drugs do is lose weight is what drug companies want you sell you.
- CerebralHawks3
  
  I think part of it might be the drug maker’s greed, though. Like it costs them pennies to make but they’re actively driving up everyone’s health care costs, whether they use them or not. There’s a whole business disruption behind these drugs and there doesn’t need to be.
BananaTrifleViolin10

Just as I dont take medical advice off social media, I won't be taking medical advice off gizmodo.
MantisToboggon10

We gonna turn into some bald ass zombies with broken nails.
- Bristlecone5
  
  But at least we'll be THIN without trying! /S
IndustryStandard-1

But the guy on YouTube with a PhD told me it was safe! It was the miracle drug!
- moonlight6
  
  But the drug itself is very safe and effective. These side effects are just the result of losing a lot of weight too quickly.
celeste16via worldnews@lemmy.ml

persistent or progressive nail detachment

This is so repulsive to me and it's like, not that big a deal, generally? When I've had a nail detach because of an injury, it sucked, and it hurt, but it didn't bother me to the degree that just thinking about nail detachment bothers me. Weird.

Doesn't sound like they know for sure ozempic is the cause yet.
- furry toaster10
  
  I wouldn't be suprised if many potential ozempic sideeffects are just the result of vitamim or a specific mineral difiency, most ozempic users were eating junk food before hand, and will continue doing so while on ozempic, just eating less but still no more healthy than before with plenty of empty calories from the junk food, and now might even been less likely to eat something healthy because they are already full all the time
  - Weydemeyer3
    
    and will continue doing so while on ozempic
    
    This is anecdotal, but someone I know who’s on Ozempic eats relatively healthy, but the quantity of food they eat is low that I can’t see how they are getting enough essential vitamins and minerals. Yesterday this person ate nothing but a handful of baby carrots all day before dinner (and then didn’t each much dinner).
BingBongTheArcher6via worldnews@lemmy.ml

Whatever happened to the shrunken heart muscles thing, or was that a different peptide that caused that?
- celeste3
  
  https://www.jacc.org/doi/10.1016/j.jacbts.2024.07.006 was this the study?
  - BingBongTheArcher3
    
    Yeah, that looks like it. I saw a single article written about it over a year ago. Seemed like it should've been a bigger deal than it was.
    - celeste5
      
      I did see a few studies about muscle shrinking in general when I looked for this one. They all were fairly small, though and not that long ago. Hopefully scientists are developing/working on larger, more conclusive studies. But those take time, unfortunately.
      
      One study of 106 people found that muscle loss stabilized after 12 months, but it was very clear how small the study was and which participants dropped out because they had to go off the drugs.
      
      https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC12673431/
      
      Scientists seem to be avoiding making strong statements about this for usual scientist reasons - they want to see larger better studies. As a layperson, however, I'm definitely keeping it in the back of my mind and if a doctor recs the drug years from now, I'll be looking up what conclusion they came to.
      - Grapho3
        
        As I understand it, a recurring issue is that patients do not often change the underlying causes for their obesity, which is poor diet and a lack of physical activity. They lose weight, but it's as a result of decreased appetite and the nausea they get when they binge, but once they start losing weight they see no reason (or lack any motivation) to do any weight training or cardio.
        
        Not saying that's the case, obviously, but muscle loss when you go on a deficit is expected.
      - BingBongTheArcher2
        
        Thanks for the link. I will be doing some more reading today. Also the last part about not jumping the gun makes sense.
distal3via worldnews@lemmy.ml

Do the studies control for calorie intake?
Maeve3via worldnews@lemmy.ml

There was a Big Bang Theory episode where Bernadette cheerfully remarked that one of her company's pharmaceuticals makes your hair fall out. I hope we're not going to start seeing prediction videos like The Simpsons prediction videos.
some_guy0via worldnews@lemmy.ml

I bet Elon's gross toes are nasty right now.
crunchy7via hackernews@lemmy.bestiver.se

“In practice: patients and clinicians should look at the scalp (itching, redness, scaling) and not only at hair shedding when starting or monitoring GLP-1 RA therapy; nail changes should be interpreted in the context of the patient’s overall health rather than automatically blamed on the drug, while persistent or progressive nail detachment deserves dermatological attention”

Important to note this is a singular study that hasn't undergone peer review yet, and doesn't establish a casual link (or even claim to).

Also important to note that temporary hair loss is a potential side effect of extreme weight loss in general. Same with what's being called "Ozempic Face." A lot of people are freaking out and fear mongering over the drug because we're not used to seeing a weight loss drug actually work. And because it basically undermines the whole snake oil "wellness" industry. Which will make it difficult to identify actual side effects.