Dr. Melissa Toyos is an oculofacial surgeon specializing in FUE (follicular unit extraction) hair and eyebrow transplantation, CO2 facial resurfacing, and sculpting faces with injectables. A summa cum laude graduate and board-certified Ophthalmologist, she is a partner at Toyos Clinic and formerly was a partner at one of the largest eye care practices in the country. Dr. Toyos is a national researcher and lecturer. She trains other doctors on surgical techniques as well as cosmetic procedures. Her clinical research has been instrumental in many FDA approvals. She is the former President of the Missouri Society of Eye Physicians and Surgeons. She has held various leadership positions with the AAO. Dr. Toyos has served as a mentor to young female surgeons, helping them understand how to balance a career and motherhood.
Photo Credit: Shutterstock
It’s the Holy Grail of aesthetic medicine – finding that medication that will make the pounds melt away but safely, easily and effectively. Up until this point, weight loss meds have been less than ideal: marginally effective or even dangerous, like phen-fen that caused heart and lung problems that could even be fatal.
Semaglutide looks like that medicine. The World Health Organization estimates that over 1.9 billion adults are overweight, with 650 million classified as obese. During the COVID pandemic, it was estimated that Americans gained, on average, 2 pounds a week for 2 months during the most intense part of the WFH lockdown.
What makes semaglutide so special?
It works by optimizing the hormones related to eating, insulin and glucagon. It stimulates the gut hormone that makes us feel full so that even my patients that don’t significantly change their eating patterns lose weight because they feel full faster. The results are fairly dramatic, with patients in the approval trial losing 15-25% of their body weight and health indicators like hypertension, osteoarthritis, and cholesterol levels improving along the way. And the weight loss is almost immediate for most – about 12% of the body weight loss occurs within the first 90 days. Side effects are mild and self-limiting. The most common ones are nausea, constipation, diarrhea or bloating and are minimized by slowly working up to the desired dose to let the body adjust.
Patients and doctors are convinced. So many people have signed up for the branded semaglutide, Wegovy (Lilly, approved for weight loss), that the supply chain was broken almost immediately. As of this week, physicians were writing prescriptions for Ozempic and other brands of semaglutide instead of Wegovy that now the patients who need the medication for diabetes can’t get it because pharmacies are out of stock.
Not only are supply chains an issue with the early success of semaglutide, but patients can experience sticker shock once they get to the pharmacy. Typical price tags are $1,000 or more when insurance doesn’t cover the cost of these prescribed meds.
One alternative is compounded semaglutide. Dr. Melissa Toyos at Toyos Clinic, works with our pharmacists to provide semaglutide weekly injections to our patients. We supplement semaglutide with B vitamins to minimize gastrointestinal side effects and monitor patients regularly with in-person and telehealth visits. A one-month supply of semaglutide weekly injections costs 400 dollars, and medication can be shipped anywhere in the continental US. Whether you need to lose a little weight or a lot, GLP-1 agonists like semaglutide can help you on your journey. Call Toyos Clinic Hair Restoration today at 901.800.6638 to see if semaglutide is right for you.
