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This may be taboo??? Could also be my bias as an esthetician who works adjacent to clinical providers that prescribe such medications…but would genuinely love to read more long-form pieces about GLP-1s from administering healthcare providers and compliant patients; not just binary for/against opinion pieces.
I understand the algo rewards hot takes over nuance but still, I feel like a lot is being lost in the digital “discourse™.”
Anecdotally, in observing people on GLP-1s overtime (and knowing that they’re on one because it can impact skincare needs/goals) I’ve seen clients have a major improvement in outcomes related to pre-diabetes/diabetes, PCOS, easing chronic pain from carrying more weight than comfortable & improvement in their overall quality of life from being prescribed GLP-1s as part of a wholistic care plan that address the gamut of lifestyle changes needed to support their longterm goals. Still having an appetite but also experiencing a liberating re-orientation around their experience of food at the intersection of nourishment and pleasure. And it shows up in their skin, which is what I’m caring for topically but of course it reflects what’s going on internally.
On the flip side, I’ve seen clients coming in and having serious signs of malnutrition show up in their skin (and sometimes chunks of hair coming out while doing a scalp massage once) from being poorly titrated on a prescription GLP-1, losing muscle mass, thinking that just by not eating and not having an appetite that means the medicine is “working”, never making other lifestyle adjustments necessary as part of a wholistic health plan.
Then, there’s the murky space that is what seems to be a longstanding human tendency towards the error of equating “health” with “beauty.” It’s been interesting for me to see how these different outcomes play out across cultural values around health goals vs aesthetic desires as shaped by race plus ethnicity.
The latter clients that I’ve described have — so far, could change! — always been women socialized into whiteness. Conversely, the former clients described have — again, so far — been women with backgrounds from any other blend of racial & ethnic identities beyond whiteness.
I’ve been searching for more writing that wades into the aforementioned elements and am so curious if other industry professionals or patients on these medications have noticed this playing out too.
I also have tangential observations when it comes to the way that neuro-modulators (ie: botox, xeomin, dysport etc.) and filler are administered for aesthetic desires vs. pain management and reconstructive purposes — and how that also breaks down across perceptions shaped by race & ethnicity. But that’s a whole other note I may or may never write.
So far, linked below is the most professionally helpful piece I’ve found adjacent to this subject but I’m still looking for more and want to keep learning.