“The goal isn’t perfection, it’s continuity—looking like yourself, only supported by better skin and stronger structure.”

Dr Geeta Grewal, Aesthetic Dermatologist & Founder, 9Muses Wellness Clinic

Weight loss has a new best friend, and its name is GLP-1. From Ozempic to Mounjaro to Wegovy, an entire generation is quietly, efficiently, shedding the kilos. What nobody is quite prepared for is what shows up in the mirror afterwards. The face. The hair. The skin that did not get the memo. We have Dr Geeta Grewal, aesthetic dermatologist and the mind behind 9Muses Wellness Clinic, in conversation with Rajeev Mokashi today, giving us a complete breakdown on what really happens to your face and hair during rapid weight loss, what treatments exist, what actually works, and why the best time to start paying attention was probably yesterday.

Rajeev Mokashi: Everyone is talking about Ozempic, Mounjaro, Wegovy — but nobody is talking about what happens after the weight comes off. What are you seeing at your clinic?

Dr Geeta Grewal: Weight loss is not new, people have been doing it for years. What is new is the speed of it. And it absolutely affects the face — more than anywhere else. Patients come in having worked hard, feeling proud, expecting compliments. Instead they are hearing, you look unwell, your face is hanging, you have lost your charm. That is deeply disheartening after everything they have put in. But it does not have to be that way. Approached correctly, you get the best of both — a lighter body and a face that looks like a fresher, younger version of you. Not haggard. Better.

Losing fifteen kilos and suddenly looking older — the hollowing, the sagging jawline. Is this inevitable or can we outsmart it?

You can outsmart it, but you have to start early. Fat sitting beneath the skin is not just weight, it is support. When it leaves, that structure goes with it. Skin does not automatically bounce back — it needs stimulation to do that. From around the second half of your first month of weight loss, begin gentle skin support. Hydration injections, a little tightening — nothing aggressive, nothing that disrupts your life. Just enough to keep the skin stimulated while the fat is reducing. Because skin is plastic. It has expanded over time and it needs encouragement to recoil. Without that encouragement it will sag. With it, the effect can be so minimal it almost disappears. I have seen that repeatedly in my practice.

How fast should someone be losing weight to protect the face?

Two to three kilograms a month. Not more. The faster the loss, the more visible the impact on the face. Give yourself time, give your skin time, and begin support treatments alongside the weight loss — not after. By the time three to four kilograms are gone, the face is already beginning to show it in ninety percent of people. That is your cue.

Let us talk about hair, because this seems to blindside people completely. Why does rapid weight loss trigger shedding?

Same reason it affects the skin. The nourishment beneath the skin feeds both — the skin and the hair roots. When that dips suddenly, both suffer. For hair, scalp restoration treatments work well. PRP injections, vitamin boost injections delivered directly into the scalp. These nourish the root, strengthen it, keep it hydrated. Hair fall slows. Sometimes stops.

And hair regrowth — is that realistic?

It depends on how long the hair fall has been happening. If it is recent, the root is still alive, still fighting, and with the right treatment it responds well. You will see regrowth. If it has been a year or more, that becomes a harder conversation — the root has had time to empty out. And if someone is completely bald, these treatments will not reverse that. That is a hair transplant conversation, which is not something we handle at 9Muses. The rule, as with most things in aesthetics, is straightforward. Earlier is always better. A small intervention early gives a large result. Wait too long and you are working with far fewer options.

When patients come in post weight loss saying they do not recognise themselves — what are they really feeling?

It is grief, mostly, sitting alongside the pride. They achieved something real and significant, and then the mirror handed them a version of themselves they were not expecting. The charm they thought they were keeping — the brightness, the familiarity of their own face — feels like it went with the weight. What I try to show them is that it did not have to, and that it is rarely too late to bring it back. Lose the weight well, support the face alongside it, and you can look twenty, thirty years younger — not older. The body is already there. The face simply needs a little company.

Is treatment for the face always separate from the rest of the body, or is it all one conversation?

Always one conversation. When someone is losing weight, we talk about what will happen to the face, the neck, the hands, the body together. Nothing sits in isolation. The impact may land harder in certain areas for certain people, but the approach covers everything. I had a male patient who lost fifteen kilograms and started hearing that he looked big, looked tired. One session — subtle hyaluronic acid injections, a little Botox — and he walked out looking fresh. Like himself, only better. Not aggressive, not overdone. Just a little restoration and everything finds its place again.

People come in asking for nose jobs and lip fillers constantly. Is that usually what they actually need?

Rarely. The nose and lips sit at the centre of the face, so people fixate on them. But the real issue is almost always somewhere else — a weak jawline making the nose appear larger than it is, a depressed mid-face, a chin that needs definition. Fix those and the nose looks entirely different without anyone touching it. It is about proportions. Get those right and everything blends. Chase the wrong thing and you will keep chasing. I have seen patients go for a second rhinoplasty, then a third. By the third, the bridge is often gone. Heart breaking, and entirely avoidable.

You built 9Muses Wellness Clinic around maintenance over transformation. How do you hold that line in an industry that profits from selling more?

By being straight with every patient about what they need versus what they are asking for. Someone wants Botox for lines that are not there — I tell them that. Someone wants filler everywhere when one area is the real issue — I redirect them. The return is better when the treatment is correct, and patients feel that. They come back not because I sold them something but because what I recommended actually worked.

How do you handle the patient who walks in with a screenshot of someone else’s face?

I tell them, you are the only version of you that exists. You cannot wear each other’s clothes and you cannot wear each other’s features. In all the years I have been doing this, I have not seen a single face that does not have something worth celebrating. Every face has it. My job is to find the point that needs attention, restore it quietly, and let the whole face come back into its own balance. Optimise what is yours. That is always more interesting than imitating someone else’s.

Skin brightening — everyone wants it, few understand it. What is actually going on beneath the surface?

In Indian skin particularly, it is inflammation that does the damage. Stress, illness, an overactive system — all of it signals the melanocytes to produce more pigment. The skin darkens not because of sun alone but because it is reacting. What we work to do is calm that response over time, through antioxidant drips, through laser treatments that gradually lower the activity of those pigment-producing cells, through internal health as much as external treatment. And it requires consistency.

Skin has memory, but you have to build it patiently. Think of it the way you think of the gym — you go regularly and the muscle holds. You stop and it softens. Skin is no different.

Final question — one piece of advice for anyone starting a weight loss journey today. What should they be doing for their skin and hair right now?

Moisturise. And do it correctly, because ninety-nine percent of people are not. They believe they are hydrating their skin and they simply are not — the wrong moisturiser does nothing, regardless of how faithfully it is applied. Skin that is dehydrated cannot heal itself, cannot respond to treatment, cannot handle the stress that weight loss places on the body. The environment pulls water out of your skin constantly. Your job is to put it back, consistently and with the right product.

Beyond that — a good serum, antioxidant rich food, stretching, movement. Losing weight asks a great deal of the body. Give it what it needs to handle that gracefully, and your skin and hair will not just survive the journey. They will show up for it.

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