Many people of all ages are using weight loss drugs, and this rapid process has led to an entirely new way of treating sagging skin that has never emerged before.
Yes, sagging skin is associated with ageing, but the rate at which people are losing unwanted weight means anyone can experience laxity around the face, particularly the jawline.
To find out what can be done about it, we spoke to Kerry Hanaphy, founder of the Kerry Hanaphy Clinic group, who has three clinics in Dublin and another in Cork, and her clients include Holly Carpenter, Thalia Heffernan, and Brendan Courtney.
Weight Loss Effects
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We asked Kerry when the best time is to start on therapies to help with sagging skin if you are embarking on a weight loss journey with Ozympic, or another drug. Kerry says that both journeys should start simultaneously to get the best results, and that anyone can improve laxity caused by rapid weight loss.
She says, ‘What you find is that people don’t know that weight loss is their body fat thinning, and they start to get loose around the jawline. So that’s where we want to try and constrict the jawline. The high-end treatment for this is Morpheus8. This is radio frequency with microneedling. It’s the gold standard treatment for tightening and dissolving fat that’s in the wrong position, as in our jowls.’
Sagging Skin
Morpheus8 is not for everybody, Kerry says, and a combination of treatments might work better. She says, ‘Not everybody has fat to dissolve. So it’s done in a very trained and experienced way. Because people read about Morpheus8 and think, ‘I don’t want to melt my fat. ‘ But once you know the depth required in certain areas, it can range from 1 millimetre to 4 millimetres into the skin. But we don’t want to melt the fat in the cheeks; we want to melt the fat on the jawlines.’
Kerry says Morpheus8 goes into the skin, where your body produces elastin, collagen, and fibroblasts, creating a natural tightening effect over time on sagging skin. The treatments are done once a month, with one month between each. The cost of standard Morpheus is €2000 for the three treatments. Kerry says that, alongside Morpheus8, people can add on skin resurfacing if they have skin texture issues to address.
Restructuring Volume Loss
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What’s interesting about rapid weight loss and its effects on the face is where people are finding it affects their appearance. Kerry says they are seeing people in the clinic with sagging skin and volume loss in the temples and upper mid-face. For this, a newer treatment called Profilho Structura is an injectable that helps reverse the appearance of fat loss where needed.
The original hyaluronic acid Profilho is used throughout the face to plump, improve radiance, and provide better hydration for many months. Structura differs in volume, combining high- and low-weight hyaluronic acid molecules to replace lost subcutaneous fat, which causes hollowing of the temples and a droopy appearance around the face. The first of its kind, this could be a really popular treatment in 2026. So, how does that fit with the overall treatment plan for sagging skin and firming?
Dehydration & Lift
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Kerry explains why she recommends this as the first step of treatment. She says, ‘Everybody has a different budget, and even if it is small, we still suggest they start with something like Profilho Structura. This goes into the fat pads at the sides of the face. If you put it in these areas, it makes your face appear fuller. So it’s very good for very people who have lost a lot of weight, and we tend to do two sessions of that a month apart. It costs €300 per session.’
She says the treatments can be planned out to work together if that’s what the client wants. ‘A lot of people who are losing weight tend to be very dehydrated, so what I’ve started doing is Morpheus8 first. Two weeks later, we do your standard Profilho and your Structura Profilho on the same day, at the same time. So then you’ll get some nice hydration and a lift to the side of the face. Two weeks later, you come back in and have your second Morpheus8, and then two weeks later, you have the same again: your Profilho and your Structura Profilho.’ Even if sagging skin is your only issue from using weight loss drugs, every face is individual, and a full consultation is recommended before any treatment.