(Vienna, Austria, Thursday, 1 October 2026) Nail detachment is more than four times as common among people taking GLP-1 receptor agonists than among comparable people with obesity or type 2 diabetes who are not taking the drugs, according to the first controlled study to examine their potential effects on nail health.
The multinational study, presented today at the European Academy of Dermatology and Venereology (EADV) Congress 2026, found that 39% of GLP-1 users reported nail detachment compared with 9% of controls, while two-thirds (66%) experienced at least one nail disorder.
GLP-1 receptor agonists are increasingly used to treat type 2 diabetes and obesity, but their potential effects on nail health have remained largely unexplored, with previous evidence limited to isolated adverse-event reports.
Researchers compared 575 GLP-1 receptor agonist users with 1,329 people with type 2 diabetes and/or obesity who had never taken the drugs, recruited across France, the United States, Brazil and Mexico.