Around two-fifths (39%) of people using private weight loss injections say the additional cost has put them in debt, a survey has found.
The average debt was £1,616, with some people turning to credit cards and overdrafts to help cover the costs, according to the research among more than 1,000 people using weight loss jabs, commissioned by banking app thinkmoney.
Savings pots are also being raided, with nearly half (49%) of people saying they are using savings and 17% having dipped into money put aside for emergencies to pay for the costs.
Nearly one in 10 (8%) people said they would miss a scheduled payment to pay for an injection, while 6% said they have already missed or delayed a payment to receive treatment.
Those who were surveyed said they are spending £210 a month on average on weight loss injections.
Around a fifth (21%) said that if their costs were to increase, they would have to stop using the injections.
Vix Leyton, a consumer expert at thinkmoney, said: “For people who have spent years trying every diet and programme going, the fear of regaining weight is a real spectre.”
She added: “If people are forced to stop because they can no longer afford it, there can be physical and emotional consequences.
“That makes it even more important that anyone starting these jabs thinks about whether they can afford the journey, not just the first few months.”
The survey was carried out by Savanta in January, among 1,040 people across the UK who are using weight loss injections.
Here are the percentages of weight loss injection users who said they had gone into debt and the average debt owed, according to the survey for thinkmoney (Northern Ireland was not included in the breakdown due to a low sample size):
Scotland, 39.5%, £1,799.06
North West, 33.1%, £1,861.74
North East, 50.0%, £1,396.19
Yorkshire and the Humber, 42.3%, £1,901.07
Wales, 44.9%, £1,466.05
West Midlands, 38.3%, £1,326.34
East Midlands, 45.8%, £1,365.47
South West, 36.9%, £1,758.79
South East, 36.8%, £1,501.95
East of England, 42.2%, £2,463.41
London, 37.6%, £1,386.74
