We are excited to announce that Eberbach Plastic Surgery now offers semaglutide, an FDA approved new drug treatment for chronic weight management. Also referred to as the “skinny shot”, Semaglutide is a once a week injection that helps regulate appetite and food intake. We find that most patients will lose an average of 15% of their body weight on this program but have been reported to lose up to 30% of their body weight. For example, if a patient weighs 240 pounds, they will lose an average of 36 pounds with Semaglutide, but can lose up to 72 pounds.

How does it work you ask? Semaglutide was originally developed to help patients with diabetes by increasing insulin secretion. It became clear over time that it could also be used as an effective weight loss treatment.  In higher doses it acts on the centers of the brain to suppress appetite, improve control of eating and reduces food cravings.

Our office starts patients at 10 units weekly increasing the dosage to 10 units every 4 weeks until the target dose is reached. It is administered through once a week subcutaneous injections in the thigh. This injection is nearly painless and easy for the patient to administer themselves.

While every patient’s weight loss journey is different, most patients start losing weight within the first 2 weeks. After the target dose is reached, you will see a larger amount of weight loss. At our office most patients have been seen losing an average of 8 pounds this first month.

Semaglutide is recommended for chronic weight management in patients with a BMI) of 27 or greater who have at least one weight-related ailment or in patients with a BMI of 30 or more. Although results vary depending on the patient, an average of 15% of body weight is lost after 1 year. In a cohort study of patients who were overweight or obese, 5.9% of total body weight loss was achieved after 3 months and 10.9% after 6 months. After 6 months there were reports of some patients with higher BMI’s losing 20-30% of their body weight. Best results were observed when used in conjunction with healthy eating and exercise.

Until recently, Semaglutide (brand names like Ozempic) has been hard to obtain due to the steep cost of up to $1,600 a month. At Eberbach Plastic Surgery we offer this program for $550 per month.

 

If you would like to learn more please call our office at 727-868-4490 ext 0.