Lynn Kellicut: Changing Lives by Changing Skin
MEET THE PROFESSIONALS:
Lynn
Kellicut
Meet the medical aesthetician and acne-specialist bent on changing lives by changing skin.
Lynn Kellicut of Florida’s Shine Medical Aesthetics Center approaches her craft with an almost evangelical zeal. No amount of education is too much. No technology unworthy of exploration. During her forty years in the industry, she’s studied and worked with renowned dermatologist and Vivant formulator Dr. James Fulton, and earned multiple certifications for everything from dermaplaning to laser treatments. A proponent of peels, a master of micro-needling, and an outspoken critic of coconut oil, Kellicut is all about commitment when it comes to skin care.
VIVANT
INQUIRES
Lynn Kellicut talks about the perils of coconut oil, the benefits of micro-needling, and what’s for breakfast.
You have some strong opinions about a trending ingredient, coconut oil…
Horrible. It’s one of the most comedogenic ingredients out there. So even if you don’t have acne, and you use coconut oil, there’s a good possibility you are going to get what we call “cosmetic acne”—a lot of little bumps all over the skin. There are websites out there saying that coconut oil is going to help your acne. My advice is to quit going to websites. If you’re using coconut oil, stop immediately. You have to be very cautious about what you read online. There’s a lot of misinformation out there.
What about Botox? Are you protox or notox?
We get what we call expression lines. When we're younger, we smile and there they are, but once we're not smiling, they're not there anymore. As we age, they become static, so now, we're not smiling, but the wrinkles are still there. Botox is great for relaxing those types of expression wrinkles and preventing them from getting deeper. I don't have to do it that often because I keep my skin going. If you keep your skin going, you will not have to use derma fillers and Botox that often.
What’s your advice for reducing acne scarring?
Get started on products that are going to rebuild. Vivant’s Vitamin A propionate is very important because that’s going to start giving you cell turnover and rebuilding that collagen, the elastin, the things that are going to help that texture. It’s the closest thing we’re going to get to Retin-A without having to have a prescription. And then, one of the best modalities is the combination of propionate and micro-needling.
Why micro-needling?
It’s collagen induction, basically a fascinating resurfacing of the skin without using laser energy. If we have scar tissue, if we have wrinkles, if we have some pigmentation, it's going to remove damaged tissue and cause the skin to send an immune response there to rebuild itself undamaged. Back in the old days, we had to take a hypodermic needle and go in to break up the scar tissue. Micro-needling does it all at one time. It's a great way to rejuvenate. And the beauty of it is, it does it without the thermal laser energy that can be very dangerous to the skin. So, with micro-needling, you’re not going to have the risk of hyperpigmentation that you get with lasers.
Why is using toner important?
We have to have oil control. Even if you're sixty-years-old, we all have to have oil control. If you have too much sebum in the skin, you get more chronic inflammation, which causes more chronic disease, which is contributing to acne rosacea, pigmentation, pretty much anything that you can think of. So we can scrub and we can wash all day long, but if we don't use something that's going to go in there and break down that sebum, you're not going to get in those pores.
Other than product, what do you think has the most impact on the health of your skin?
Chemical peels. Even with all the lasers and everything that we have today, chemical peels still give you the best results in almost every area. A good, medium depth chemical peel at least three times a year.
How important is beauty sleep to your regimen?
Sleep is very important. It's important for healthy cells. It's important for everything. Your skin is not separate from other organs. I mean your skin is the largest organ of the body. So sleep is very, very, very important for overall skin health and body health. You’ve got to rejuvenate.
In the morning, what’s your clear skin breakfast? 
We want to do low glycemic. We want anti-inflammatory. So fruits that are low in sugar, like berries, strawberry, stay away from banana, stay away from watermelon, things of that nature that have more sugar. Eggs are fine. Even a little bacon would be OK if it's not too much salt. But basically, we want to keep it as low glycemic as possible.
What advice do you give your clients?
We don't just wait till we have the damage, then come in and try to fix the damage and stop, because we never stop aging. Plus, there are certain types of skin conditions that are going to continue to be there. So it is something that is a lifetime commitment and clients need to understand that they need to be using good skin care for the rest of their lives.
You've been doing this for forty years. Do you still you still love it?
Skin care is my passion. We change people’s lives. Whether clients have a condition of hyperpigmentation, melasma, acne…they're very self-conscious. It can emotionally affect them. You see when you take the “before” picture, they're not smiling. Then, along the way, as they get more clear, more clear, more clear, all of a sudden there's a smile on their faces. It's really amazing. You really can change someone's life by helping them with their skin condition.
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