Hair loss due to GLP-1
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.
Attributing shedding to the medication is the natural move when the timing fits, and it is also where a treatable cause most often gets missed. The labels support the attribution being possible; they cannot support it in your case, and the difference is worth being careful about.
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.
| Product | Reported in | Women | Men |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wegovy Semaglutide | Clinical trials | 4% | 0.9% |
| Zepbound Tirzepatide | Clinical trials | 7.1% | 0.5% |
| Ozempic Semaglutide | Postmarketing reports only | no denominator | no denominator |
| Mounjaro Tirzepatide | Postmarketing reports only | no denominator | no denominator |
| Rybelsus Semaglutide (oral) | Postmarketing reports only | no denominator | no denominator |
| Saxenda Liraglutide | Postmarketing reports only | no denominator | no denominator |
| Trulicity Dulaglutide | Postmarketing reports only | no denominator | no 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.
What the trial data establishes is a background rate. Between 1% and 2% of people on placebo reported hair loss over the same trial periods — people taking nothing, losing little weight, reporting the same thing. Whatever is happening to you was happening to some people who were not on the drug at all, which is precisely why attribution from timing alone is unreliable.
The label attribution is also narrower than people assume. Both documents say the reactions were associated with weight reduction. If you are losing weight rapidly, that is the variable both manufacturers point at — and it would point the same way if you were losing it by any other means.
Common questions
- What else could it be?
- Thyroid dysfunction, iron deficiency, several common medications, and other physiological stressors all affect hair. All are checkable. None of them stop being possible because you also started a GLP-1.
- Does the pattern of loss tell me anything?
- A clinician can distinguish diffuse thinning from patchy or receding patterns, and they point at different things. That requires someone looking at your scalp, which is not something a page can do.
- Is it worth mentioning to my prescriber even if mild?
- Yes, mainly so it is documented and so the checkable causes get checked. It is also a reasonable prompt for a broader review of how the treatment is going.
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.
- This page carries no product-specific dosing figures. The labels behind everything on this site are listed on the sources page, and the originals live on DailyMed.
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.
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