WNKY News 40 Health Report: Home Stretch for Weight Loss

BOWLING GREEN, Ky. – Medications like Wegovy and Ozempic, also known as semaglutide, have helped many patients lose weight, part of what was once considered a winless or never-ending battle.

But, after taking the medication and working hard to exercise and control eating, you may think the problem has ended.

But those who have lost large amounts of weight have found there is another problem…excess skin.

It’s not just cosmetic; it can cause health problems, too.

Dr. Salim Saba, a board-certified plastic surgeon with Graves Gilbert Clinic, explains that while the excess skin can be a cosmetic problem and impact a person’s self-image, he also says the excess skin can contribute to skin problems like bacterial infections and yeast infections due to the extra folds that may be formed.

Saba says a surgical procedure to remove the skin, known as a panniculectomy, may be covered by insurance since having the surgery may reduce the incidence of infections.

If you are prescribed a weight-loss drug and find you have excess skin, you may have to find a plastic surgeon and ask for a referral or refer yourself, if your insurance company allows self-referrals, since providers who prescribe weight-loss drugs may not automatically refer you to a surgeon to address the side-effect of excess skin.