‘Botched’ Doctor Terry Dubrow Reveals Why He Stopped Using Ozempic

Dr. Terry Dubrow’s experience with Ozempic was “amazing,” but the Botched doctor admits the side effects weren’t worth the reward in his case. The plastic surgeon, whose wife is Real Housewives of Orange County star Heather Dubrow, revealed to Page Six that he wanted to give the popular new drug being used for weight loss a try for the sake of his patients, but missed “the joy of eating.”

“I’ve tried it. I thought it was amazing. I … didn’t have that much weight to lose,” Dubrow, 65, told the outlet. “But I wanted to try it because so many of my patients were on it and I wanted to see what it was like when you’re not diabetic and you only have 10-15 pounds to lose.” Dubrow still supports the use of the medication but didn’t personally think the “low-grade nausea” and loss of interest in food was worth it for him.

“I thought, ‘You know what, I kind of want to get my appetite back. The holidays are coming, I want to enjoy myself,’” he explained, noting that Ozempic “really took … all the joy of eating away.” Dubrow added, “You go on vacation, maybe you don’t exercise, you eat too much. It was kind of like, ‘Well, I want to go on a food vacation,’ meaning I want to be able to eat again.” 

The doctor also noted that drinking while taking semaglutide injections is absolutely off-limits. “You can’t drink on it,” he said. “You’ve got to be really careful with alcohol because people are being put in the hospital with pancreatitis.” Ozempic might not have been the right fit for Dubrow, but he still thinks the medication will be a major benefit for many people struggling with their weight. 

In August, he told PopCulture.com that the new class of weight-loss drugs is a “breakthrough,” and that the shaming surrounding their use needs to come to an end. “I think these drugs are a breakthrough, they’re here to stay, but we don’t really know exactly how to use them,” he said at the time. “They have a lot more complications in non-diabetics than we really realize. But if we stop people from shaming people for using these, like they’re cheating, we will learn more quickly how to use them and be able to use them more effectively and safely. So let’s stop the Ozempic-shaming. Let’s learn how to use them and tell your doctor if you’re on these drugs.”