Oh, oh, oh, for a beach body.
A top doctor in the United Kingdom is warning people not to use the popular weight-loss drug Ozempic to get a rushed "beach body ready" for summer, according to the Times of London.
Dr. Stephen Powis, the National Health Service's medical director, cautioned that people should not abuse Ozempic and Wegovy as a "quick fix ... to get a quickie 'beach body,'" the report said.
"We know these new drugs will be a powerful part of our arsenal dealing with obesity, but they should not be abused. Buying medication online without a doctor's supervision can lead to complications and dangerous consequences," Powis said at a recent conference in Manchester.
He said the drugs should be used for treating severe obesity or type 2 diabetes.
Recent reports have said that some people - especially young women - are lying about their weight to get the drugs 'privately from online pharmacies or beauty clinics," the Times of London said, adding that they are experiencing medical complications.
Doctors involved in providing emergency care report that they are seeing "young, beautiful girls" with healthy weights on "almost every shift" suffering from potential fatal consequences because they have taken the drugs.
Doctors are demanding "urgent regulation and control" over sales of the drugs to make sure they are being prescribed to obese patients.
Dr. Vicky Price, a consultant in acute medicine and president-elect of the Society for Acute Medicine, told the Times of London that she is among the physicians "concerned" about misuse of the drugs.
"I and many other colleagues in acute medicine across the U.K. are very concerned about the increasing numbers of patients we are seeing with complications from new weight-loss drugs they have purchased online," she said.
"Sadly we are seeing serious, life-threatening complications including inflammation of the pancreas gland and alterations in blood salt levels in these patients, who were not aware of the risk they were taking," Price added.
A doctor recalled how a "young girl" who was "not at all" overweight but bought Wegovy via an online pharmacy arrived at the hospital "feeling unwell, like she was going to pass out and couldn't stand up. She was really struggling to eat."
The doctor said cases like that are now all too common.
"They're really dangerous drugs - it's shocking. It isn't people who need those drugs that are doing this. This is people with probably an element of eating disorder and body dysmorphia and that's what terrifies me. I just look at these young, beautiful girls. Oh, my word ... it really makes me very sad," the doctor said.
