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Do GLP-1 cause hair loss

You are dealing with a symptom and want to know if it is expected.

Reference and calculator, not medical advice. This page explains how something works; it does not tell you what to take. Last reviewed August 2026.

Yes — it is a documented adverse reaction, reported above the placebo rate, and it appears in the labelling of both weight-management products. But the labels answer a more precise question than "does it cause it", and the precision is the useful part.

In the pooled Wegovy trials, hair loss was reported by 3.3% of people on the 2.4 mg dose and 1% of people on placebo. Subtract one from the other and the excess attributable to being in the treatment arm is about 2.3 percentage points — roughly one person in forty-three. That is a real signal, and it is also a much smaller number than the volume of discussion around this topic would suggest.

What each label actually reports

Incidence figures come from the adverse-reaction sections of the prescribing information. The two weight-management products report trial data; the diabetes products list alopecia only as a postmarketing report.

ProductReported inWomenMen
Wegovy SemaglutideClinical trials4%0.9%
Zepbound TirzepatideClinical trials7.1%0.5%
Ozempic SemaglutidePostmarketing reports onlyno denominatorno denominator
Mounjaro TirzepatidePostmarketing reports onlyno denominatorno denominator
Rybelsus Semaglutide (oral)Postmarketing reports onlyno denominatorno denominator
Saxenda LiraglutidePostmarketing reports onlyno denominatorno denominator
Trulicity DulaglutidePostmarketing reports onlyno denominatorno denominator

A postmarketing entry means the reaction has been reported after approval but the label gives no rate, because spontaneous reports have no denominator. It is not evidence that the rate is lower — only that it was not measured. Every figure above is checked against the label linked at the foot of this page.

The labels themselves do not describe this as a direct drug effect. Both Wegovy and Zepbound use the same phrasing: the reactions "were associated with weight reduction". That is the manufacturers' own reading of their own data, submitted to and reviewed by the FDA — and it is a claim about what the effect travels with, not a mechanism.

Common questions

So is it the drug or the weight loss?
The labels say the reactions were associated with weight reduction. They do not go further, and neither will this page. The practical consequence is the same either way: the thing that changed is how fast you are losing weight.
Why does the placebo group have any at all?
Because 1–2% of people notice hair shedding over any given period regardless of what they are taking. That is exactly why placebo arms exist — without one, the 3.3% figure would look far more alarming than it is.
Does everyone get it?
No. In the largest reported figure in any of these labels — women on the 7.2 mg Wegovy dose — it was 8.4%, meaning more than nine in ten did not report it.
Did people stop the medication over it?
In the Zepbound trials, no patient taking the drug discontinued because of hair loss. One patient on placebo did. That is the entire published record on discontinuation, and it is a small dataset, but it is what exists.

Sources and last review

This page is general reference rather than a dosing table, so it quotes no figures from a label. Nothing here is reviewed by a clinician, and this site does not employ one — which is exactly why what I do publish stays traceable to its source.

Transcribed from the labels above and checked by me — Gavin, who builds this site, takes a GLP-1, and is not a clinician. Last reviewed August 2026. Found an error? [email protected] — I treat corrections as bugs. How this site is built and funded.

Citing this page

The figures here are transcribed from FDA-approved labels and each links to its source. If you are writing about this, quote the label rather than this site where you can — and if this page saved you the transcription, a link is appreciated.

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