L'Oreal Says Ozempic Era Is Denting Skin Care Sales

L'Oreal grew sales 7.7% in the three months to September, beating analyst expectations, but its CEO says weight loss drugs are now shaping what beauty consumers buy.

Chief executive Nicolas Hieronimus told an investor call that the rise of GLP-1 medications — the drug class behind Ozempic, Wegovy and Mounjaro — was "a very important phenomenon for us". He said the boom in their use was "having an impact on beauty consumption and skin care consumption in particular".

Here's the context. GLP-1 drugs were originally developed to treat diabetes. Then doctors and patients discovered they suppress appetite and drive significant weight loss, and prescriptions exploded. Rapid weight loss can bring a side effect the drugs don't cause directly: loose skin, including around the face.

That side effect is now a product opportunity for the world's largest beauty company.

How is L'Oreal responding?

Hieronimus said L'Oreal's brands SkinCeuticals and Kiehl's already have products "that have been designed to work alongside and complement GLP-1 and its side effects on skin sagging" and other effects related to rapid weight loss.

The company has also gone deeper into clinical aesthetics. In December last year, L'Oreal raised its stake in dermatology firm Galderma to 20%.

According to Reuters, both companies have been testing products on GLP-1 users worried about loose skin, running separate clinical trials.

Why Galderma matters

Galderma's portfolio sits squarely in the injectable aesthetics market. It owns Sculptra, an injectable that stimulates collagen production, and Restylane, a dermal filler.

The firm has been tracking the GLP-1 trend for a while. Last year it published a report on the rise of GLP-1 use and related concerns about changes in facial appearance. Its own survey of weight loss medication users found the vast majority had noticed changes to their facial appearance after using those drugs.

In plain terms: millions of people on these drugs are looking in the mirror and seeing a different face. Galderma's survey data says so, and L'Oreal is positioning its brands — from mass-market Maybelline to premium La Roche-Posay — to catch that demand.

What does this change for the industry?

For beauty and skin care players, the message is that GLP-1 adoption is no longer a pharma story with cosmetic spillover. It's a demand-side shift hitting one of the biggest categories in beauty — skin care — and the head of the market leader is saying so on the record.

Hieronimus framed the broader beauty market as resilient in a challenging global context. L'Oreal's own numbers back him up: sales up 7.7% for the quarter to September, ahead of what analysts expected.

The so-what is straightforward. If GLP-1 use keeps climbing, expect more product lines built around skin sagging and facial volume loss — and expect the line between beauty counters and dermatology clinics to keep blurring. L'Oreal's Galderma stake, at 20% and rising, is the clearest signal yet of where the company thinks the next growth pocket sits.