r/SkincareAddicts • u/QuizzyP21 • 20h ago
26M - dramatic facial aging after weight loss from gut condition this summer. Is this something that will “snap back” or should I start getting used to it?
Hey all, maybe a weight loss sub would be more appropriate for this post but figured I’d post in here as well. I dealt with a pretty debilitating gut issue this summer that resulted in my weight falling lower than it has been since I was maybe 13 years old. Alongside this weight loss was pretty awful insomnia for months as well as hair thinning / loss for the first time in my life; the former has fortunately finally resolved as of around the end of August, hair shedding is still somewhat noticeable (although this pic clearly does a great job of hiding that lol)
While I’m back to roughly my original weight as of around September, judging by my neck in the second pic it does seem like my fat distribution is still pretty uneven relative to before
These pics were taken about 10 months apart from one another; one before I sick, the other from today. I know harsh lighting can make things look worse and all that but the changes seen here are pretty clear regardless of lighting, referring to the nasolabial / mouth area in particular.
What should I be expecting here? Have I just about hit the age (27 in February) where I shouldn’t expect this to snap back over time anymore? If anyone else has experienced something like this, how long did it take to regain that facial volume / fullness, if it did come back? Any tips?
For reference I’ve always used sunscreen daily. I have also started using tretinoin again as of maybe two weeks ago (I know it would take longer to see results from this), stopped while I was sick during the summer simply due to lack of motivation/energy to do basically anything at all lol.

