When people on GLP-1 drugs describe skin that hurts to touch, burns or feels raw without a rash, the labels have a word for it: dysesthesia. It is one of the few side effects that rises steeply with dose, and the Wegovy label now reports it in unusual detail — how many people had it at each dose, what was done, how many recovered and how many had it come back. This page reads that record from every current US label that lists it, on 22 October 2026, then adds what adverse-event databases and case reports describe. A rash, hives or itching is a different record — the allergy one — and is on rash and itching on GLP-1 drugs.
What the labels put under one word
The Wegovy label's footnote defines its dysesthesia term as a group: allodynia, burning sensation, dysesthesia, hyperesthesia, hyperpathia, pain of skin, paresthesia, sensitive skin, skin burning sensation, skin discomfort and skin sensitization. In plain terms that covers pain from a light touch, burning, pins and needles, and skin that feels sore or over-sensitive. The searches people type — "skin sensitivity", "allodynia", "skin pain", "burning skin" — all land inside it. Other labels use the single word dysesthesia without listing what it includes.
The rate in each label
| Label (version) | Trials | Drug | Placebo |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wegovy 7.2 mg injection (v19, eff. 2026-06-18) | Trials with 7.2 mg, 2.4 mg and placebo arms | 22% (7.2 mg) · 6% (2.4 mg) | 0.3% |
| Wegovy 2.4 mg injection, original weight trials | 2,116 on drug, 1,261 on placebo | 2% | 1% |
| Wegovy 25 mg tablet | One trial | 5% | 0% |
| Foundayo (v10, eff. 2026-07-29) | Pool of Trials 1 and 2 | 0.3% (9 mg) · 1% (17.2 mg); none at 5.5 mg | 0.1% |
| Mounjaro (v40, eff. 2026-08-27) | Placebo-controlled diabetes pool | 0.4% at 5, 10 and 15 mg | 0% |
| Mounjaro, SURPASS-CVOT | 6,647 on drug | 0.7% | — (active comparator) |
| Zepbound (v40, eff. 2026-08-28) | Pool of Studies 1 and 2 | 0.2% · 0.2% · 0.4% (5 / 10 / 15 mg) | 0.1% |
| Ozempic, semaglutide tablets, Saxenda, Victoza, Trulicity | Post-approval reports only | not estimable | — |
Section 6 of each label, DailyMed, read 22 October 2026. The 7.2 mg rows are from Table 4 and its text; the 2.4 mg original-trials row from Table 3.
Two patterns stand out:
- The dose gradient. Within one set of trials, Wegovy went from 6% at 2.4 mg to 22% at 7.2 mg, against 0.3% on placebo — a near fourfold rise for a threefold dose. Foundayo shows the same direction at a much lower level (none at 5.5 mg, 0.3% at 9 mg, 1% at 17.2 mg). How this compares with the gut side effects across doses and brands is set out on GLP-1 dose and side effects.
- Semaglutide stands apart from tirzepatide in the labels. Zepbound and Mounjaro report rates under 1% at their highest doses; Wegovy reports 2% to 22%. The labels describe different trials and do not compare the molecules, so the difference is a reading across labels, not a tested comparison.
Course: what was done, who recovered, who had it again
The Wegovy label is the only one that follows the symptom over time. For the 288 people who had dysesthesia on 7.2 mg:
| What happened | Share of the 288 |
|---|---|
| Stopped Wegovy permanently | 2% |
| Paused it temporarily | 8% |
| Had the dose reduced | 23% |
| Did not report recovering during the trial | 18% |
Wegovy prescribing information, section 6.1, "Dysesthesia".
The label adds that "most subjects with these actions taken … recovered from the event", that events "resolved faster" when an action was taken than when none was, and that among those who did not recover the dose was mostly left unchanged and not stopped. Then the recurrence figure: of 38 people who recovered after an action and were taken back up to 7.2 mg, 17 — 45% — had dysesthesia again. (Shares as printed by the label.)
That is unusually concrete information for a side effect: it says the symptom often tracks the dose, often eases when the dose comes down, and often returns when it goes back up. It also says nearly one in five did not recover within the trial. Decisions about dose belong to the prescriber; this is what the trial recorded.
What adverse-event databases add
WHO's VigiBase. A 2026 study from the French pharmacovigilance network analysed reports in VigiBase for the "paraesthesia and dysaesthesias" group across GLP-1 drugs and tirzepatide, and read every dysesthesia case narrative in the French database. It found semaglutide and tirzepatide significantly associated with hyperaesthesia, semaglutide with dysesthesia and burning sensation, and exenatide with numbness and oral tingling. The authors describe the reaction as dose-dependent and more frequent with more potent drugs, often stopped with a favourable outcome, with cases recurring when the drug was restarted, and single out skin burning as a distinctive form (Laroche et al., European Journal of Clinical Pharmacology, May 2026).
FDA's database. openFDA (data updated 30 July 2026, queried 22 October 2026) holds, among reports naming each molecule:
| MedDRA term | Tirzepatide (160,663) | Semaglutide (73,001) | Liraglutide (50,705) | Dulaglutide (88,160) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Paraesthesia | 519 | 380 | 248 | 263 |
| Pain of skin | 225 | 95 | 19 | 23 |
| Skin burning sensation | 175 | 133 | 42 | 37 |
| Allodynia | 154 | 83 | 3 | 0 |
| Hyperaesthesia | 61 | 46 | 20 | 5 |
| Dysaesthesia | 51 | 12 | 1 | 1 |
Report counts, not rates; a report can name several drugs and symptoms.
The newer molecules carry most of the skin-sensation reports, even though tirzepatide's labels print the lowest trial rates. Reports follow how many people use a drug and how much a symptom is discussed online, so the table cannot rank risk — but it does show the symptom is being reported for tirzepatide in numbers its trial rate would not suggest.
Case reports
A PubMed search on 22 October 2026 for a named GLP-1 drug or the class with dysesthesia, allodynia, hyperesthesia or "skin sensitivity" in the title or abstract returned 29 records, many of them laboratory studies of pain pathways. The clinical reports include:
- Two patients with moderate-to-severe allodynia on tirzepatide for weight management, the symptom timed with dose increases, worse at higher doses and resolving after the drug was stopped (American Journal of Case Reports, May 2026). The authors wrote that the tirzepatide prescribing information they reviewed listed no skin pain; the Zepbound label read for this page (effective 28 August 2026) lists dysesthesia.
- Dysesthesia on semaglutide and a first report on tirzepatide, in both diabetes and weight-management use, described as dose-dependent and resolving on stopping or sometimes on its own after several weeks (Cureus, October 2025).
- Prolonged dysesthesia after a large accidental semaglutide overdose (JACEP Open, August 2026).
Case reports describe what happened to individuals; they cannot give a rate or prove cause.
What this page cannot tell you
- Why it happens. No label states a mechanism. Laboratory work on GLP-1 receptors in pain pathways exists, and some of it points toward reduced pain, not more; none explains the clinical reports.
- Whether it differs between molecules at equal effect. No trial compares semaglutide and tirzepatide on this outcome.
- What a particular person's symptom is. Burning or painful skin has other causes — shingles before the rash appears, nerve damage from diabetes, vitamin B12 deficiency — that a clinician can check.
Skin pain, burning or new sensitivity to touch on a GLP-1 drug is worth reporting to the prescriber, who can weigh the dose record above against the person's circumstances.
Sources
- DailyMed prescribing information read 22 October 2026: Wegovy (v19 — section 6.1, Tables 3 and 4, "Dysesthesia"); Zepbound (v40); Mounjaro (v40); Foundayo (8ac446c5-feba-474f-a103-23facb9b5c62, v10); Ozempic (adec4fd2-6858-4c99-91d4-531f5f2a2d79, v20), semaglutide tablets (27f15fac-7d98-4114-a2ec-92494a91da98, v14), Saxenda (3946d389-0926-4f77-a708-0acb8153b143, v22), Victoza (5a9ef4ea-c76a-4d34-a604-27c5b505f5a4, v31) and Trulicity (463050bd-2b1c-40f5-b3c3-0a04bb433309, v62) — section 6.2.
- Laroche ML et al. Dysesthesia associated with GLP-1 agonist therapies: data-mining analysis and literature review. Eur J Clin Pharmacol 2026;82(6):154. PMID 42168638.
- Chakrabarti MP et al. Cutaneous allodynia associated with GLP-1RA tirzepatide for weight management: a case series. Am J Case Rep 2026;27:e952158. PMID 42101979.
- Ahern et al. Allodynia and dysesthesia associated with semaglutide and tirzepatide. Cureus 2025;17(10):e94126. PMID 41210042.
- Quarenghi M et al. Prolonged dysesthesia after massive accidental semaglutide overdose: a case report. J Am Coll Emerg Physicians Open 2026;7:100427. PMID 42256775.
- openFDA drug adverse event API, data last updated 2026-07-30, queried 22 October 2026.
- PubMed search, 22 October 2026: named GLP-1 drug or class AND (dysesthesia OR dysaesthesia OR allodynia OR hyperesthesia OR "skin sensitivity") [tiab] — 29 records.