Dr. Lisa Kellett on Embracing Midlife Skin with Confidence
By Cassandra Jesik
Think glowing, healthy skin is out of reach? Think again. With decades of experience, dermatologist Dr. Lisa Kellett knows what midlife skin needs now. As leader of the expert team at DLK on Avenue, her wellness-first tips are here to help you age gracefully and glow confidently. We spoke with Dr. Lisa Kellett to learn about skin health, trending procedures, and the science-backed methods that turn everyday skin care into lasting results!
How has skin care evolved throughout your career?
I think that skin care ingredients are more efficacious and there’s more evidence-based medicine behind a lot of the ingredients that we use. Evidence-based medicine is also done by independent research, not just the big companies. The other part of it is that there are so many products available to the consumer. Now you have thousands and thousands of skin care products, as opposed to the 1940s when there were maybe three creams available.
DLK on Avenue has an “age your way” philosophy. What does that mean to you?
As a female physician who’s been practicing for many years, I think it’s very important to empower women and not to judge them. When people come in, they usually have complaints about the quality of their skin. Some common concerns are: wrinkles, skin laxity, brown spots, red spots, or spider veins. When I do a physical examination, my first inkling is not to look at them aesthetically. I approach it from a medical point of view and I look for the presence of disease. For example, sometimes people will have a brown spot that they think is simply from the sun, when in fact it ends up being skin cancer. Once I rule out the presence of disease, then we go from there.
What products should everyone be using for skin care?
Number one, two, and three is sunscreen. Winter, spring, summer, and fall — I tell my patients that they need to use sunscreen on their face, neck, chest, and the backs of their hands daily. Even on a winter or fall day, if you’re by a window or in the car, you’re still getting UV exposure. That’s why it has to be daily.
I tell people that wearing sunscreen is like brushing your teeth. When you brush your teeth, you don’t really see a difference the next day. If you regularly brush your teeth for a period of five years, then you would see a difference. That’s what sunscreen is like. You don’t see the day-to-day results, but over time, using proper sun protection does make a big difference.
What is proper sun protection?
There are a whole bunch of things that constitute sun protection and sunscreen is only one of them. Sun protection is also about modifying your behavior. For example, if you play tennis, you’re not playing tennis at 12 noon. You’re playing in the early morning or later on in the day. You’re wearing sun protective clothing as well. That helps with sun protection. You seek shade. So if you’re out on the patio, go and sit underneath an umbrella.
Sun Protection Tips
- Wear sunscreen
- Limit sun exposure between 11 a.m. and 3 p.m
- Protect your skin with clothing
- Seek shade
Which procedures do you love the most for anti-aging and why?
So there are multiple things that we can do. A lot of the newer procedures are based on improving the quality of skin. So for that, we can use things like microneedling radiofrequency. We have a device called the Potenza, which is helpful for that.
We also use hyaluronic acid. You can use hyaluronic acid not only to produce volume, but also to improve the quality of the skin. So there’s one called Restylane® Skinboosters™, which is helpful for improving the quality of the skin.
We also look at doing skin tightening. So there are ways to tighten all layers of the skin — one of those ways is to use infrared heat. To do that we use something called Zaffiro, which is very helpful.
BEFORE AND AFTER SKIN TIGHTENING WITH ZAFFIRO
What does adding radiofrequency do to microneedling treatments?
Microneedling refers to tiny little needles that go into the skin. Radiofrequency is a technology that allows those needles to produce heat. So it basically takes the microneedling procedure and makes it stronger with the addition of heat, which is better for collagen remodeling and collagen production.
BEFORE AND AFTER SKIN TIGHTENING WITH POTENZA
Is there an optimal time of year to have procedures done?
So as long as you’re being careful, you can do them during the summer. I always tell my patients, your goal from the beginning of the summer to the end is to stay the same colour. There are some laser-based and light-based therapies that we would stop if you have a tan. But in general, most therapies can be done on tanned skin.
DLK uses a lot of ‘natural’ treatments. What makes them natural, and what are the benefits of that?
So natural is an odd word, right? Because it has varied connotations to everyone. I would say our treatments are medically directed. This means that I would start with very simple things and then go to more complex ones. For example, if you have issues with skin texture, the simplest things I would start with are: Education, sunscreen, better skincare, and then we go into the treatments. We start with the most conservative and important measures for healthy skin first.
DLK also offers a lot of personalized attention and support. Why is that important?
The reason I do that is because I’m obsessive about patients getting great care. In over 32 years of practicing medicine, even from the very beginning, I would call every patient with every result. I never believed in the adage “We’ll call you if your results are abnormal.” My adage has been, “If it’s important enough for you to do the test on the patient, it’s important enough for me to call the patient and let them know.” So I’ve called every patient with every result for 32 years. I empower the patient. These are your results. I don’t want things to fall through the cracks. With our healthcare system the way it is and the lack of timely access to care, it’s more important than ever.
If you have a skin concern, what should your next steps be?
If you had a problem with your heart, you would see a cardiologist. If you had a problem inside your brain, you would see a neurosurgeon. If you have an issue with your skin, you need to see a dermatologist. You should not get your information from the internet or from social media. If it’s important enough that you have an issue and you’re concerned about it, get your information from a dermatologist because you’re worth it, your skin is worth it, and you want to see an expert. You wouldn’t want less if you had an issue with something else!
Do you have any advice for women?
It’s not about society telling you what you need to do. Or that at a certain age, you have to look a certain way. The most important thing is how you feel about yourself. Whatever decision you make — as long as you make an informed decision, that’s a good decision for you. And we should support women, regardless of what they decide to do!