Why should you alternate weight loss injection sites?

When using weight loss injections, it’s important you rotate injection sites or at least avoid injecting at the same spot as your previous injections. This is especially important for daily injectable treatments like Saxenda and Nevolat.

Injecting at the same site can result in side effects, such as:

Skin irritation

It’s common to get irritated skin after using any injections. The injection site might feel sore, painful to touch, and inflamed – this is known as post-injection inflammation. Depending on the severity of the reaction, it usually goes away after a few minutes or hours.

Repeated injections in the same area can worsen this reaction. It can cause symptoms like severe itching, rash or in rare cases hives.

Skin discomfort

Frequent injections at the same site can lead to skin discomfort. This may include tenderness, pain, and redness in the area.

While these symptoms are typically mild and usually go away within a few hours, repeated injections can worsen the discomfort, especially if you’re injecting daily.

Cutaneous amyloidosis

Cutaneous amyloidosis is the accumulation of amyloid protein under the skin. The primary symptom is a lump forming under the skin, which can affect absorption. Other symptoms may include abnormal skin patches, itching, and changes in skin colour.

It’s been reported as a rare side effect of liraglutide (found in Saxenda and Nevolat). It commonly occurs due to repeated injections at the same site, which can lead to a buildup of liraglutide, causing the amyloid protein to aggregate.

Lipohypertrophy

Lipohypertrophy is when a lump forms under the injection site after repeated injections. It’s caused by a buildup of scar tissue and fat deposits. The lump can make it harder for medicine to get absorbed.

Although this is less common with weight loss injections containing GLP-1 receptors like semaglutide and liraglutide, as they promote fat loss, if you have existing lipohypertrophy, repeated injections at the same site may make it worse.

There isn’t enough research that suggests that weight loss injections cause lipohypertrophy; in fact, semaglutide has been found to prevent and reduce HIV-related lipohypertrophy.