I lost 4 stone on Ozempic at 70 but it caused one problem with my face

I was beyond delighted – and proud – at having lost nearly four stones in just over eight months on Ozempic. For the first time in years, I felt attractive again. I was slipping into Size 12 clothes – and I refuse to be “thin shamed” for loving that. My mobility was off the charts. I had no joint pain, no pain in my knees or my back.

And my dog Murphy was delighted because for the first time in years, I was able to walk him for miles. But while I was loving all the compliments at having lost so much weight, and while my body was looking good in clothes – my face had suffered.

Losing weight as fast as I had had left my skin looking a bit grey and “hangy”. Truth be told, my face has “caved in” having lost so much fat from it. And suddenly it hit me – I had what’s now known as “Ozempic face”.

I won’t lie. I was glad my face was thinner and from a distance I looked good. But close up I felt I was looking old. It was like the “life” had gone out of my skin. My face looked sunken below my cheeks and around my mouth and I had lines and dents that hadn’t been there when I weighed 14 stones 10lbs. Back then my body was in a mess (no energy, mobility problems, breathlessness) but my face was round and plump.

It radiated good health even though I wasn’t actually healthy. And I had barely any lines. Of course, I realise now they’d all been filled out with fat. Now having lost all the weight, I kept looking at my face and thinking, “There’s no point in the body looking good if the face looks tired.” And I’m not deluding myself here. I know at 70, I’m never going to look young and beautiful. But having worked so hard to make my body look better, I wanted my face to be better, too.

Of course, a lot of it was my own fault. I’d dieted hard and fast when I started on the drug and maybe I lost weight too quickly. My face hadn’t had time to catch up. And the truth is, I didn’t always eat the nutritious, vitamin-rich foods that Juniper, the online management company that had supplied me with Ozempic, had told me I must.

Obviously, I do now because they’ve drummed it into me that I have to eat healthily. But I was always the kind of person who, when I started to diet, wanted to do it at breakneck speed because if I didn’t, I lost interest and reached for the crisps. Now, of course, I know Ozempic stops you doing that because it turns off the food noise and you don’t crave the foods you did before.

So, I’m smarter. But back then I wasn’t. I just wanted that weight off – fast! And yes, I did it fast. In eight months, I’d lost nearly four stone, but it had taken a toll on my face.

I’ll admit I thought long and hard about having a facelift – something I still haven’t ruled out farther down the line – but I’m not ready to go there just yet. And then at a party at Vanessa Feltz’s house to launch her daughter Saskia’s new book, I met the fabulous Dr Zoya Diwan, who’s an experienced medical aesthetics doctor.

Best not to get too close to Dr Zoya, if you have any qualms about your face because hers is exquisite. It’s so exquisite that I wanted to throw mine headlong into Vanessa’s canapes after meeting her. But then she is a living, breathing advert for the natural look aesthetics her business is all about.

So, there I was banging on about my “sunken” face, but she was incredibly positive. “I can do something about that.” Two weeks later, I was sitting in her Trikwan Clinic on London’s South Molton Street having photographs taken so she could see just how bad the damage was and what needed to be done.

Now, it’s one thing to look in your own mirror at home and think your face isn’t looking good, but it’s quite another being confronted with sharp, close-up pics which throw up every little (and big) fault in gory detail. She told me I’d lost lots of fat in my face, that my collagen reserves were depleted, the skin layers were dehydrated and a lot of elasticity had gone. “Fix it please – and fast,” I begged.

Within minutes I was on the therapy bed, and my face was slathered in a numbing cream which makes your lips feel so big it’s almost impossible to speak (I think that was part of Dr Zoya’s cunning plan – to shut me up so she could get to work). And get to work she did. She injected her very own Trikwan Skin Cocktail which contains salmon sperm, would you believe, and is the ultimate, regenerating, skin-boosting magic potion. Together with another treatment called Julaine, it’s injected into the deep layers of the skin to stimulate your own collagen growth. It also targets fine lines, wrinkles and uneven skin texture, while boosting elasticity and making your skin literally glow.

Most importantly, as it’s filling you out, it doesn’t give you that “chipmunk” look that some products give women who are trying to make their faces look fuller. That said, for the four days after the injections I did look like I’d done ten rounds with Tyson Fury.

I panicked, of course, and rang Dr Zoya who said it was perfectly normal. And she was right. My face had completely settled down after about six days.

And then there’s the “lift” it gives. A couple of weeks after my first injections – there are two lots – my cheekbones were noticeable again. And I won’t lie – the thought of the needles going deep into your skin layers was a bit scary, but the numbing cream meant it didn’t actually hurt a bit.

After the Julaine bio stimulator, Dr Zoya injected a bit of temple and cheek filler and a smidgeon of “Baby Botox” in my upper face near my eyes. And the Botox she does can last up to a year, which means you don’t have to get top-ups every few months.

I want to stress here, I was under no illusion that this was going to be a substitute for a facelift. It was never about me getting a brand new face. The big focus was on my skin quality. Losing weight as fast as I had meant I didn’t take the vitamins and nutrients I was told to by Juniper, the result being my skin looked dead and lifeless.

This treatment was about injecting life back into the skin I’ve got. And six weeks in – the treatment keeps working for another four months and can last between one and two years – I can tell you my skin is incredible. It’s tight and clear and looks incredibly healthy. And it’s not just me saying that. People I meet are asking what I’ve done to myself, that my skin is glowing.

Even a male friend recently told me my skin was radiant and when do blokes ever notice your skin? I’m also wearing less heavy face make -up because my skin doesn’t need heavy coverage. And when I’m not doing telly, I just wear a skin tint at home – which for 70, ain’t bad.

This treatment isn’t just for women who’ve lost weight. It’s fantastic for all ages, especially those who want to look “fresher” and don’t want to have to go under the knife to do it. The truth is, while life’s stresses and strains can have a huge effect on your psyche, they can also play havoc with our skin.

People say the eyes are the window to the soul, but I think the same can be said of our skin. If you’re tired, fed up, not feeling great – your skin reflects all that. It’s literally the face you show to the world. I’ve told Dr Zoya that I hope she likes me because she’s going to be seeing a lot of me over the years!

• For more information visit, trikwan.com/treatments/trikwan-skin-cocktail