Semaglutide usage has surged in recent years due to FDA approval for its wider usage in weight loss management, providing a legal and regulated avenue for the drug to be prescribed.
KK Stock Shutterstock
Our data indicates that Gen X (born between 1965 and 1980) comprises the largest age generation of semaglutide patients, with around 44% of all patients in 2024 being from Gen X.
Many contributing factors exist for why Gen X (born between 1965 and 1980) leads the way in semaglutide usage, including:
- Higher disposable income: Gen X people tend to be in the peak earning years of their careers, allowing for the financial resources needed to purchase semaglutide, which can be prohibitively expensive
- Greater health concerns: Individuals begin to experience more pronounced health concerns around their 40s to 60s, including those related to weight management such as obesity and diabetes, providing an added impetus to seek an effective weight loss solution
Differences in semaglutide usage across different age groups and demographics
As of 2024, the breakdown of semaglutide patients in the U.S. by age group is:
- Boomer & Older (born on or before 1964): 18%
- Gen X (born 1965 to 1980): 44%
- Millennial (born 1981 to 1996): 32%
- Gen Z & Younger (Born on or after 1997): 6%
The impact of semaglutide on the aesthetics market
With patient bodies changing at such an unprecedented scale, we expect widespread impacts on the aesthetics industry as semaglutide adoption continues to grow. Based on data we have seen so far, we are observing multiple notable trends:
- New patient growth: Around 50% of all patients buying semaglutide at aesthetics practices were not existing customers of those practices
- New patient return business: New patients are returning to practices for a range of reasons, including lipo shots, vitamin and supplement purchases, and neurotoxin injections
- Increased spend among existing patients: On average, existing aesthetics patients that begin semaglutide treatment see an increase in annual aesthetics spend of between 30% and 40%. This is largely due to the additional cost of semaglutide.
- Impact on other aesthetics segments: Qsight studied how spending behaviours changed among 6.5k patients in the one-year periods before and after beginning semaglutide treatment (at the same practices). Analysis indicated that, while the additional cost of semaglutide may drive increased overall aesthetics spend, this may be at the expense of spending on other aesthetics categories (neurotoxins, energy-based devices, dermal fillers, etc.).
Emerging opportunities in aesthetics
- Scores of new patients are being driven towards aesthetics practices due to the semaglutide surge. Practices should focus on promoting other services to new patients in order to maximise the opportunity to up-sell and convert new patients into loyal aesthetics customers.
- Physicians should also be attentive to patients’ physical changes throughout treatment, as these changes may give rise to new aesthetic needs. For example, semaglutide patients commonly experience sagging facial skin (“Ozempic Face”) which may necessitate dermal fillers to compensate for lost volume.