Skin Stories from 3 Health Experts

Dr. Cates: Hi there. I’m Dr Trevor Cates. Welcome to The Spa Dr. Podcast. On today’s podcast, I’m interviewing three different women health experts who have had their own personal struggles with skin and were able to overcome these issues and go on to help others. They each share their personal story plus secrets and tips of wisdom they’ve gained from helping others. My guests today are Magdalena Wszelaki, Dr Joy Martina and Dr Amy Killen. You may recognize these women because of their great impact on the world of wellness or from interviews I’ve done with them before. I’m going to share each of their bias to remind you of who they are and their achievements.

Dr. Cates: Magdalena Wszelaki is the author of the bestselling cookbook cooking for hormone balance published by Harper Collins. She is the founder of hormones balance, a nutrition practice dedicated to helping women to rebalance hormones naturally. Magdalena is a certified nutrition coach, herbalist, speaker, and educator with a long history of hormonal challenges. Her health crisis was a direct result from having a highly stressful life in advertising, starting from graves and Hashimoto’s disease to adrenal fatigue and estrogen dominance. Today. She is in full remission, lives a symptom free us in life and teaches other women how to accomplish the same in her book and online courses.

Dr. Cates: Dr. Joy. Martina is a psychic psychologist specializing in rapid change coaching. She’s a bestselling author, master hypnotist and trainer of trainers and coaches. Her Unconventional Approach towards coaching and her incredible success rates are based on her ability to combine a wide range of modalities and her skill of connecting to the unconscious parts of the brain. She’s able to tap into her client’s subconscious and higher mind to reveal the original cause of the issue that her client is struggling with. Dr. Joy is able to do this not only with her VIP clients on one on one sessions but also with large groups and countries around the globe.

Dr. Cates: and Dr Amy Killen is board certified and emergency medicine with over 10 years of direct patient care and has been practicing anti-aging and regenerative medicine for more than five years. She is fellowship trained in anti-aging and regenerative medicine through a forum and has done extensive additional training, aesthetics, PRP and stem cells, hair restoration, bioidentical hormones, nutrition, fitness and sexual dysfunction. Dr. Amy Killen has spoken nationally around PRP and stem cells as well as sexual dysfunction and regenerative treatment options. She teaches physician training courses and is recognized as a leader in the fields of Regenerative Aesthetics and Regenerative Sexual Medicine.

Dr. Cates: So as you can see, all of these women, they have interesting backgrounds and expertise, that’s all three of them. And that’s the order that you’re gonna see their interviews with each of these amazing women. Please hear their personal struggles, know that you’re not alone, and that you too can take charge of your health. And all of this shows up on your skin and your overall radiance. So please enjoy these interviews.

Dr. Cates: Magdalena is so great to see you and be here in person with you.

Magdalena: I know, we sat at the same table today too.

Dr. Cates: That was great. So I know you actually were sharing today during the conference that you’ve struggled with skin issues yourself and you were probably helped a lot of other people since then. But tell us about what your personal experience was like.

Magdalena: Yeah, so you know, it all started when you, you know, when you go into becoming a teenager and you’ll get zits all over and it’s like part of being a teenager, which that’s what we are told that it’s normal. And as succumbed to that and then, you know, 10 years later I’m still covered in and now it’s even worse because now I had cystic acne, not just on my, on my face, but it was also on my chest. It was on my back and I even had it on my butt and I used to live in a tropical, I grew up in a tropical country in Malaysia where you are, you know, you just wear super open clothes all the time and you don’t want to be covering up too much because it’s so hot. And so, you know, I remember being, that was such a shame for me around because there was something like almost dirty about having cystic acne. Like, you know, you are like this, it just felt filthy not to be able to clean this up. And I didn’t have a lot of other friends who have that problem. I mean, people have, you know, women who have like one or two, my girlfriends that happened before a period or something, but not to a point where I couldn’t even cover it up with my makeup because, you know, you have these little volcanoes on your face, right? And on your chest, and your back. I mean, your makeup will disappear and you know, in half an hour because you’re sweating so much. Right? Living in a tropical country. And so it was usually scarring.

Magdalena: You know, I didn’t, first of all, I didn’t own any top open, top, shorts or dresses like the way I do now. I used to have it on my arms as well. This is not about forgotten. It was always like three or four at any time. And it was, it was, you know, I mean you are in your early twenties, this is like the prime time and you start dating boys. And, I remember like I didn’t start dating til I was like, I was a generally late bloomer, but I didn’t start dating til like probably I was 22, 23 and even with that it was just, it was a lot of caution around it and a lot of self, um, not feeling worthy enough, not feeling pretty enough to, you know, to date. Even though a lot of a lot of boys, it was like they didn’t really care about all my pupils. They just like, you got a nice ass and you know, it’s like you’re fun and, but it didn’t, that didn’t really matter. Right. So that was a huge thing. And the pivotal moment when it was, when my girlfriend, one of my best friends was getting married and I was her maid of honor and she designed these dresses for us. Right. And they were all open, top. It opened back and I said to her, there’s no way I’m going to wear this. And she’s like, oh, you’re so self conscious. I’m like, well, hell yeah. Cause you know, you got to be bloody beautiful skin. You don’t realize that. Right.

Magdalena: And, I remember thinking, I need to fix this. Like, you know, I’m a fixer. Like, you know, and so, but mind you, this is 20 years ago where we did not have the information that we have today. Right. So, uh, I remember going online and there was this article, I think it was like around this time, this article that popped out that said, why is it that teenagers and Papua New Guinea did not have pimples? And I thought, Huh, that is so fascinating. Right. And it’s true because I lived in Malaysia at that time and we used to travel a lot to very remote parts of like Borneo, when you have a lot of indigenous people. And I remember thinking, yeah, that’s true. None of them ever had pimples, even in their, you know, as teenagers.

Magdalena: Right. So then I started to googling more and Dr Mercola’s website came up, you know, 20 years ago that said gluten as a main cause of acne. Along than behold, I cut out gluten, half of my zits disappeared. And then I did food sensitivity testing, which mind you 20 years ago living in Asia, I had to wait for three months to get my results back and paid $1,000, which is probably today like worth $4000 or $5,000 you know, and being 25 years old, you don’t earn much money. So it was like I saved for months to be able to do that test. And if it sensitivity testing came back and it showed that I have a huge sensitivity towards eggs. And so though, so that was the other half of the other food that took away the other half of the acne problem. Right. So I mean, Gosh, today you can just walk in there and get $300 test and like results within the week. Right? That’s how much things have changed. Not to mention like gluten free options are so prevalent everywhere today. Right? So it really, I mean, that was the, that was the pivotal moment that put me on the path of realization that, you know, oh my gosh, food can really play in a difference. I had no idea. And my job was in advertising. I was not in a health space. My parents were not conscious eaters, you know, food wasn’t treated as medicine cause it didn’t have to be back then in Asia. Food is medicine. They just eat that way and you know, and you don’t even think about it. Right. So, yeah, that was a profound moment.

Dr. Cates: Yeah. Thank you for sharing that. And I do find that a lot of people struggle with those two foods with gluten and eggs and eggs. The one that really surprises people. Of course, sugar and dairy are other two big ones. Yeah but a lot of times people when they’ve come in to see me and they’ve, they’ve given up sugar, they’ve got maybe even gluten but eggs is, yeah.

Magdalena: Yeah. And there’s also demonizing, right? Because like I feel, I wonder about your practice. I see it’s about half and half, half people, like about 50% of people can’t do eggs. And you think, you know, like with gluten, you can sort of understand how our making of bread has changed. That we don’t sprout things anymore. We add also crap to it, right? So you can sort of understand how we suddenly became sensitive to that food. But with eggs you’re like, you know, I remember having, when I was still in private practice, people go, yeah, but my eggs are from my hens. And they were like right outside my garden and they eat the best grass possible. And it’s true. I mean, and it doesn’t, well, some people it just does not matter. You have that sensitivity to, to that particular protein. But the good news is about also with, uh, all of this is that, you know, doing the elimination diet is so helpful, right? Cut out a list of inflammatory foods. And what I have noticed is that even in my own life, you know, I can have like two eggs a week and not react if I do more than that. If I push and do more than that, I start breaking out again. So, you know, the cool thing is that once you abstain from it, you fix your gut, you clean up your liver, clean up your gut, right? All this stuff that you teach as a naturopath, you know, is really the sensitivity reduces significantly and you can back. So this is really the good news.

Dr. Cates: That is good news. And that’s why in my book, I talk about two weeks of giving up, there are 10 different things that people give up. Right? And then reintroduce them. And then you find out for yourself and because like you said, not everybody has a problem with eggs. Not everybody has a problem with dairy and some people can even gluten and they seem to be okay with that. But it’s really finding out yourself. I think it’s very powerful when you eliminate and then try reintroducing and, and see for yourself what happens.

Magdalena: Right. And also when I add one more thing that food sensitivities, including skin evolve. And so for example, as a child, I used to have a lot of ear infections and I used to, my mom used to take me to for drainage, ear drainage every month cause I had so much pause and so much if sinus and your infection infections. And I had a lot of Eczema right there on my, you know, right here I was all covered and my mom didn’t realize that was all from eggs. And interestingly having eating eggs the eczema stops and mom was, oh thank goodness. But then I became a teenager and then it became all cystic acne. So it’s really interesting how sensitivities evolve as we age as well.

Dr. Cates: Ya it definitely can change and it’s so important to what you were talking about, about healing the gut and then being able to actually eat some of those foods again, but you have to heal the gut. Exactly. And then you can start trying to get these, some of these foods back in. Like you said, he couldn’t, you can eat it a few times a week and you do okay with that. Yeah. And that’s how I found with like things like dairy. It’s the same for me. I can do a little bit, but I know that only certain things that I can eat, certain types of cheeses, certainly like a little bit of butter a little bit, you know, just so, but we could definitely learn.

Magdalena: And so you then went on a path to help other people with food using food as medicine. Yeah. So you know, as you know, I run a practice called hormones balance and I help women rebalance their hormones naturally. And the elimination diet is the first step in rebalancing your hormones too. And so, you know, one of the, I know your, your whole world is about skin, right? And the interesting thing is that you’re, you know, when you do the elimination diet, it’s so many things that will improve skin’s gonna be, if skin is your problem, skin is going to be one of the first things you find a lot of relief and uh, and it also could probably help you with a lot of other symptoms. So like what I didn’t talk about, you know, on stage today when we were sitting on the next to each other is that, like I had terrible pms is not, I had horrible migraines. Like I never left a home. I would have a panic attack if I left the home without my ton of Tylenol. You know, because I had such horrible migraines that I couldn’t even move my egg ice. And it was also because of gluten. So foggy brain, a lot of swelling in a, in a belly, right?

Magdalena: And so, you know, we talking about skin today, as in cystic acne, but it really, you will see so many improvements in your health right away. And so I feel like it’s, you know, you really, no matter what supplements you take, I mean does, it drives me crazy. People going, oh, here’s a supplement for, you know, here’s a topical thing for your, for your, for your zits, You know, whatever skin condition, that’s all total b.s. I mean, this is not gonna work. If you continue eating these inflammatory foods, your skin is going to be responding to that. And it’s really as simple as that. And you know, and I say this from, from experience because having lived in, in Poland at first, that’s when my acne started. And then moving to Asia, you know, both of these countries have a huge appreciation for herbs. I mean, you go to an herbalist first before you go and see a doctor. That’s just the tradition in Poland is the way you go and see a novelist first you’d go to herbal pharmacy to get your remedy right. And I remember this poor pharmacist, she’s like, oh my God, you poor child. This is your 10th visit. Well, try this herb now. Right? And so I was just like one hour after the other, none of it worked. And then my, you know, my then your dad is like how many more herbs that you going to be trying and like this is like you’ve got this whole shelf that was just full of herbs. My parents didn’t know what to do with them. They go like, do you want to throw it? Do you want to keep it? I’m like throw it like it’s obviously not working. You know? So it is because I was eating that food, it was constantly sabotaging my skin.

Dr. Cates: Yeah. It’s so much about getting to the root cause. And so just that outer reflection of inner health and like you’re saying, it’s connected to our hormones is connected to so many things. But if you don’t address the root cause you’re just, and you’re just using topicals and not addressing it from the inside can just get worse and show up in your health and other ways.

Magdalena: And your skin improves and your pms is going to improve and you know, whatever. If you’ve got migraines, if you’ve got a foggy brain, I mean depression, like people who are suffering from depression, that’s one of the first go to protocols is to get off gluten. Right. And all the other food sensitivities. So yeah, I just can’t stress it enough. Like how important that is. The elimination diet.

Dr. Cates: Thank you Magdalena. It tell everybody how they can find out more about you.

Magdalena: Just my digital home is hormones with an s. I know, it’s kind of weird, hormonesbalanced.com. That’s my website.

Dr. Cates: Okay. Thank you so much.

Dr. Cates: Dr. Joy Martinez it’s so great to have this opportunity to chat with you about skin and so many people struggle with skin challenges that you wouldn’t really know by looking at them. And you’re one of those people. I just happened to be talking to you and you mentioned that you have also had skin issues. Oh, I struggle with mine when I was my skin when I was younger. And you’ve had your struggles but you have this beautiful glow now, so obviously you’ve overcome it. So tell us about what your struggles were and what you found was the biggest insight.

Dr. Joy: I’d love to. So first of all, I, my skin trouble started when I was actually around 20 years old. So I’d been on the pill and everything was kind of, I thought, I don’t know what acne is, but then I went off the pill and suddenly I got full blown acne but not only in my face. I had it all over my back and it was really debilitating cause I felt so shy and insecure about it that there were days when I didn’t even want to go out of house. And I remember that, um, my then husband at that time, cause I then got married, right. used say to me, you look as if a donkey’s farted in your face. So I was really, it was something that really took down my self confidence and I did everything to try and get it back on track. You know, all the conventional methods, methods from food to the special creams and all the treatments, but nothing really helped.

Dr. Joy: And then I figured out I must find out something that’s working for my body because the conventional treatments just didn’t. And that actually led to the beautiful path that I am on now that I discovered that, you know, all skin is different, all bodies are different and every single body and skin needs something different. So it’s all about listening to your body’s intelligence. And that’s something that I call intuition. And when we’re tuned into our intuition, we know what foods to eat, we know what creams to use, we know what doctors to see, we just know and we don’t have to use conscious, rational reasoning for that. And that is intuition. So actually now I’m really grateful to have had that struggle and to have gone through all that pain as well because it’s not only helped me understand others better have compassion for people where we often think they have it all right, but they then deep inside could be struggling with something like a skin disorder. But also it showed me that, you know, actually sparked my path in life. So I’m deeply grateful today. But at that time, oh my goodness. It was painful.

Dr. Cates: Yeah. And it’s amazing when pain can become our purpose and our passion and, and it doesn’t always feel like it in the moment.

Dr. Joy: That is very true too. And you know what else it taught me, it taught me that there are certain kind of, I’ll call them disorders for now and we’ll call skin a skin kind of complete that for now, they are so connected to psychological stresses that we have in life. So when I figured out that it was actually a lot about setting boundaries, healthy boundaries in life, that also helped my skin, it was a lot about reducing an internal conflict in me and that all that creates stress and our skin is that outer border towards the outside life. So when we’re having conflict inside of us, whether it’s emotional or some kind of conflict in the relationship, for instance, that’s going to show in our skin. And when we tackle that conflict and we tackle those emotions, I’m able to transform them into a more healthy balance in our skin recovers to. So our skin is actually a beautiful mirror of what’s going on inside of us.

Dr. Cates: Oh, that’s so beautiful. I love that. And I, I know we talk a lot about food and skincare products and all of that is important, but what you’re talking about is also so great and that in tapping into that intuition, do you have any tips for people on how to do that? Because that is really valuable because we can get these little voices in our head. And is that, is that intuition?

Dr. Joy: Right. Is it the heart? Is it the gut? Which part of me is talking and yeah, I love that you’re asking that. So yeah, the first step that I recommend everybody to do who’d like to tune into their intuition and strengthen it is to step out of the buzz, is stepping out of that chaos that we’re actually confronted with every day or the information that’s bombarding our brains. It’s that noise. And when we’re tuned into that noise, we can’t hear the subtle bias of intuition will get actually all the voices coming from fear coming from our past experiences coming from our drama and trauma from the past. So it’s really about taking those five, 10 minutes a day of sitting in silence. And I know that can sound like a scary concept, right? But it’s just you and you focusing on your breath. And if we do that, then our whole day is different and we’re able to actually find our center and that truth within us and we won’t get so distracted by all the messages from outside. So that’s step one.

Dr. Cates: Mm hmm, and I think, I think that is great. I think sometimes it takes a little longer though than five.

Dr. Joy: We usually takes about 10 minutes for the mind to start calming down. But you see, it’s like with every habit, if we do it every day, those five, 10 minutes will become your most sacred moments at all of the whole day. And what else happens, which I think might be most attractive for most people, is you’re actually making time. So when we’re super busy and we feel, oh my God, I can’t take time off because I’ve got all this stuff to do, that’s when you should actually be taking double the amount. Because the funny thing is, in the quantum field, when you take time in silence, you’re creating more time for yourself and you then able to prioritize better. You make better decisions. You’re in a better state inside. And that’s always, always going to reflect on the outside too, whether it’s your skin, your relationships, your business. So take five to 10 minutes every day, focus on your breath, take deep belly breaths, train your vegus nerve, train your system to chill out.

Dr. Cates: We all have five minutes. It’s really not that hard to take five minutes and just sit and I love what you’re talking about. So is that something that you figured out really quickly early on in your life? No, because I was miss perfect, who was super, super busy and was trying to be the perfect mom, the perfect way for the perfect student, the perfect everything. So I was the opposite of that. So I learned through a lot of pain. And I read a lot about meditation. I’d read all these things, but I didn’t believe them. I didn’t think, yeah, that’s gonna work for, normal people, but not for busy people like me. But then when I started just practicing and said, okay, you know, what, if this is all that it takes, why don’t I just do it? And then I did it for a month and then I suddenly did it for 90 days. And that’s how long it takes to create a new habit. And then suddenly is, it’s become the most valuable habit of my life. And you know, those days when I don’t start in meditation, they always go awry. But if they do, I think it’s challenges will still come, but I feel way more equipped to deal with them. So it’s, I think the best habit we can teach ourselves and our kids to learn to be in silence rather than constantly distracting ourselves.

Dr. Cates: And have you seen this with other clients of yours with skin issues that this is being a problem.

Dr. Joy: Absolutely. Then it leads to this other steps that we need to take when we’re strengthening our intuition. So stepping out of the buzzers, just one. The next one is to learn to see no gracefully and learning to see no is all about keeping healthy boundaries, knowing what is right for me right now because so often we’re so oriented in the outside, so we’ll do everything for everybody else before we’ll do it for ourselves. So it’s vital to train any kind of self love is to be able to say no. But usually, especially for women, we haven’t learned how to say no. And then when we see no, we usually say it in a real grumpy, aggravated, frustrated way, right? And then we’re surprised if it doesn’t go down so well. So when we learn to say no gracefully and we know when it’s a yes or no, so that’s the next thing. If you’re thinking, oh, but I don’t know for this. Your body knows, our body instantly knows if we are attracted to someone or repulsed right? So that yes and no is something that you can train and say to yourself. And then you learn how to see no in the right time. So early on, not wait until it’s kind of already halfway down the road. But at the beginning I’m going to say, you know what? No thank you. And that’s the second step.

Dr. Joy: And then the third step is to actually learn how to forgive and release joyfully because we all I think have been chained that forgiving and letting go us to be really tough and really painful, but it’s not true. We can learn how to do that. And then it’s a release and releasing in itself already sounds better than letting go. And when we learned to do that, then you know, whatever to us in life, we can actually just move on from, not by numbing it down, but by working through it. And I think those are tools that we need to be teaching our kids. And we need to be applying ourselves because life’s happening and challenges will happen. But when we learn to move through them in a graceful way, then they don’t bog us down, then they can’t actually told us into the past. But we’re actually able to fly in. We’re able to create that future that we deserve. And healthy skin is one of them. Being happy in our bodies is another one of them and that all strengthens intuition, because it actually trains our faith in ourselves. And when we have faith in ourselves, we have confidence. We’ll show up, we’ll be happier, we’ll be healthier.

Dr. Cates: Oh yeah. That’s so beautiful. Joy, tell everybody where they can learn more about what you have to offer and your transformation that you’ve offered to people.

Dr. Joy: I’d love to. So if you’re on Facebook, join my Joy Tribe. We’re a group of international wonderful beings or here on this planet to help spread. Jai, it’s for free. And the other page I’d love you to go to is JoyMartina.com now you’ll find out lots of ways how you can work with me. And you’ll get a free gift, which is a beautiful meditation called Connect to Self Love, because that’s where it all starts.

Dr. Cates: And then, so instead of waiting until you’re suffering and struggling, it’s the sooner you can start making changes, the better. And skin is one of those early warning signs that something is out of balance. So that’s the time to start making a change. When you start to see things or before, do it now, even if you don’t have skin issues, now is the time to start. And I think what you’re talking about and the, and setting boundaries and giving time for yourself is so crucial. I think we oftentimes ignore it and just say, oh, it’s not. Yeah, like you said, that’s not for me, that’s for other people, but it’s really for all of us. It’s for our best. It starts with us, doesn’t it? Yeah. All right. Great. Thank you, joy.

Dr. Joy: Thank you.

Dr. Cates: Dr. Amy. Killen it’s so great to see you in person.

Dr. Amy: Oh, you too.

Dr. Cates: And your skin is glowing as always.

Dr. Amy: Thank you.

Dr. Cates: But that all wasn’t always the case. Right? With your skin that you’ve had personal struggles with your skin?

Dr. Amy: I have, yes. When I was working in the er I was out in the sun too much and I also didn’t get any sleep and I was always stressed and I had like dark pigment spots everywhere. My skin was super dull, like flaky. I have pictures from then. I’m always like, oh my gosh, like what was going on with me?

Dr. Cates: Yeah. And so what was that like?

Dr. Amy: I mean at the time I was so busy that I didn’t even think about it that much. I was just like, just struggling to get from day to day. But it was later when I look back and realize like it really was a problem, that I realized, you know, I should have paid more attention to it.

Dr. Cates: So it’s amazing. Some people struggle with their skin and they are so devastated by it. And then other people, they just kind of live with it because I think, oh, this is just my normal, this is my genetics, this is my life. Yeah, this is my skin. And then when it changes and you look back and you go, oh my gosh, I can’t believe I was living like that.

Dr. Amy: Yeah. For like years, for years I had just had like dark spots on my face and super dry skin. But you know, I had to go through it to try to get to the other side. And now I know a little bit more about how to take care of it.

Dr. Cates: So what have you found to be the most important things to help those issues?

Dr. Amy: I mean, staying out of the sun is a big one in or wearing sunblock. Um, I think obviously sleeping when gay, it was a game changer for me. Like once I got to where I can sleep a full night every night. And then I, managing stress has been huge for me as well. Just that getting my circadian rhythms in order and my inner stress life. And then, you know, I did some things like IPL lasers and good skincare and some stem cell treatments, PRP, things like that. And that all just helped it move in the right direction.
Dr. Cates: Yeah. Well, and that’s a lot all in there. And I want it. So let’s, let’s talk about sleep. What have you found to be, I mean, besides changing jobs, right?
Dr. Amy: Yeah. Changing jobs, not having small kids. Those things help. Um, just getting on a regular basis. Sleep schedule was something I hadn’t had in years. And then I take some basic things like Melatonin or or you know, do the blue light blockers or some of that, but really just getting into like a routine and a schedule that allows me to go to bed at a good time and you know, everyday the same has been really good for me.

Dr. Cates: Yeah. And what about managing stress?

Dr. Amy: Again, I changed jobs, which is a big part of it. But I think, yeah, just learning how to like, to, to kind of be by myself, to breathe too. Like I do, you know, do yoga. I like some of these things that I knew about, but I didn’t really do. I have have been a great way to kind of channel stress. And like leave it, you know, in one area versus packing it into my head at night when I go to sleep.

Dr. Cates: Mmm hmm. You are such a fun, happy person. Have you always been like that?

Dr. Amy: Thank you. Uh, no. I think on and off. I think that my, I have a tendency towards being happy but certainly there’ve been some times where for years, you know, a time where I was less than happy for sure.

Dr. Cates: So what, what helped shift that? I mean any, any, anything you want to share?

Dr. Amy: I mean it was really this, it was a really like a time period again, you know, it was sort of, it was the same thing. It was lack of sleep. It was stress. And um, having young kids at a busy job where I have to get up at three in the morning and go to work every day. And like that’s just a hard thing to navigate for many years. And what I realized with that is that there aren’t, you have to sort of make decisions, you know, that are going to be beneficial for your health. Like for me, leaving the ER was that decision. But everyone’s decision is different. But you know, you have to make choices because there are outcomes from those choices.

Dr. Cates: Right. And I was just gonna say, do you have any suggestions for people who feel like they’re in that space right now? They’re just so stressed and they are not sleeping and anything that you can tell them.

Dr. Amy: I mean, the, the, it’s easy to say like make better. Certainly I try to shift your lifestyle to a way that is more conducive to less stress and more sleeping. I think for some people that’s changing jobs, maybe it changing relationships or maybe it’s, you know, pulling back from, obligations or things that they’ve signed up for or not saying yes as often or you know, all of those things. But just finding ways to like just slowly cut some of that stress out, I think makes a huge difference.

Dr. Cates: Yeah, absolutely. And all of that is so important. That’s where you want to start. Right? And then there are procedures too that you have, I have learned and that some of them you do yourself. So you mentioned, you mentioned IPL. So tell, tell everybody about that.

Dr. Amy: So IPL stands for intense pulse light. It’s a type of laser therapy. It’s great for hyperpigmentation. And basically you just go in and they do like a laser and then it brings the pigment out. So it basically pulls the pigment out of your skin. It makes it worse for like a week or two and you look crazy and then it all sloughs off. And then you’re left with, um, a much, much better looking skin. I usually have several of those, like two or three treatments.

Dr. Cates: And does that make your skin more sensitive to sun damage or are there any downsides?

Dr. Amy: You do want to be careful with all of these lasers. You don’t want to get too much sun beforehand. You’ve got to stay out of the side afterwards. I’m wearing, you know, wearing sun block and things, but I had just returned from a month long backpacking trip and my face was just, I mean it was like just pigment everywhere and I found that my first IPL treatment was, it was pretty amazing. Like it really improved that texture and hyperpigmentation.

Dr. Cates: Yeah. That’s great. Okay. So I know you’ve been on the podcast before talking about PRP and stem cells. But for people who haven’t seen that podcast or maybe want to hear it. Tell everybody about the benefits of PRP first. So let’s talk about PRP. When is that a good thing for the skin?

Dr. Amy: So PRP is just it’s basically taking your own blood, spinning the growth factors from your blood. That’s platelet rich plasma and putting it into your skin. Either injecting it or using like micro-needling to get it in there. And what it does is it basically talks to your own skin’s stem cells and cells that are making collagen and Elastin, hyaluronic acid, all the parts of the skin that you want. It talks to your cells and says, Hey, let’s crank out those components and make more of them so that your skin is a little fresher, a little bit more youthful, you know, good for texture and tone and color. It’s something that I like to do a couple of times a year for myself and patients because it’s really nice way to kind of like make your skin glow a little bit, give it some life.

Dr. Cates: And so you did that for me. When was that? December?

Dr. Amy: It’s been a while. I think it’s almost time for me to come back.

Dr. Cates: Yeah it is. It is. Initially, I know my face was inflamed and then peeling for a couple of days, but it didn’t last that long. And cause I saw you what like a week later, at a conference.

Dr. Amy: And you were like , oh my gosh look at my skin, it’s so good.

Dr. Cates: It was great. Cause that was an anti aging conference. And then there’s also stem cell, right?

Dr. Amy: So sometimes it’s kind of like a step up from PRP. We can get cells from the patient or we can get other sources like umbilical stem cells or exosomes or they’re all essentially growth factors that again are kind of talking to your cells in your face and telling yourself to crank out the Collagen. So we know that from studies that had been done on wound healing, that these therapies like PRP and stem cells can help heal wounds faster. And that’s how we learn that first. And then we started being like, well, can we turn this into a way to help slow down aging in the skin? And that’s what they’re used for. Both things now.

Dr. Cates: Okay. But there are different types of stem cell treatments out there.

Dr. Amy: There are, yeah. There’s a whole bunch. And there are cells that come from the patient, like we can get your bone marrow cells or your, you know, fat cells and use those in your skin. Or you can buy products. The doctor can buy products from labs, like umbilical cells, or placental tissue. These are all like full term babies. Like there is no embryo stuff. Or exosomes that are sort of these little growth factor, messenger, bubbles things. So there’s a whole bunch of options. They all could be effective but it just depends on um, what people are looking for.

Dr. Cates: What do you personally, what do you prefer to use?

Dr. Amy: Right now I’m doing a lot of exosomes with PRP because exosomes, I could just buy them from a lab and they’re cryo-preserved so I don’t have to do a procedure. Essentially you, besides the injections, there’s no liposuction, anything on you. So I like those. But I also still like the actual stem cell procedures and people who we are going to have multiple areas of the body treated and just really want like the Cadillac kind of treatment.

Dr. Cates: And so what do people notice? What’s the difference that people notice on their skin after one of these treatments?

Dr. Amy: So it takes, it takes place over two or three months. So it’s a slow process and it’s improvements and things like texture. And tone and color, hyperpigmentation can be improved. Um, acne scarring or scarring can be improved. But really what people tell me is that their friends and family just started like, you know, oh my gosh, you look like you’re so much more awake. Are you sleeping better? Like you’re kind of glowing today. Like it’s like sort of the subtle change in, you know, in the glow. There’s no like less dullness, things like that that people really tell me.

Dr. Cates: And when I did the PRP facial, I used my skin care products, The Spa Dr. products, and it was amazing how, how much that decreased some of the swelling and the redness and everything.

Dr. Amy: Yeah. Yeah. I remember you telling me that you were like, this is working so good.

Dr. Cates: Yeah. It’s a great combination. Okay, so, and you are in Utah. And people can fly in and see you and people do that. Or if you’re in Utah you can drive in. So tell everybody where they can find you.

Dr. Amy: Yeah. So my website is dramykillen.com and I have a couple different practices so that’ll kind of help direct you to which practice is most appropriate. So dramykillen.com

Dr. Cates: And you’re in Draper, Utah, which is outside of Salt Lake just, well I’m basically in Salt Lake City and then park city. You have two locations for your practice. One of them with Dr. Harry Adelson who’s been on the show also. And he does more of the pain management side of things. So people will come in and do a full body makeover. Right?

Dr. Amy: Yes a full body stem cell makeover. Yeah. So we do hair injections for hair loss or improving hair, face, neck, we can do hands and then I do the sexual injections as well for men and women. And then Harry does all the joints. Basically the whole body. Right.

Dr. Cates: And I know we’re being really quick and brief here, but you can watch Dr Amy Killen’s full podcast on the spot doctor podcast and get more information as well as Dr Harry Adelson’s cause he also talks about stem cell. Okay. Thanks so much for joining me.

Dr. Amy: Thank you, it was fun.

Dr. Cates: I hope you enjoy these interviews today with these three amazing women in wellness and then have been inspired by their stories, whether you struggle with your skin, your health, or just looking for ways to optimize and have more of that inner and outer radiance. Hopefully this gives you some tips on getting started and knowing that you’re not alone, that other people have been on this journey before you and have been able to overcome issues and not only overcome them for themselves, but go on to inspire other women and other people as well. So to learn more about them, you can go to TheSpaDr.com, go to the podcast page with their interviews and you’ll find the information there. And while you’re there, I invite you to join the spa doctor community so you don’t miss any of our upcoming shows and information. We always love to see your reviews on iTunes for The Spa Dr. Dr. Podcast, so it’s always great to receive those. And if you haven’t gotten your customized skin report, you can hop on over to theskinquiz.com find out your skin personality type, what messages your skin is trying to tell you about your health and what you can do about it. That’s theskinquiz.com. Also, I invite you to join me on social media, on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, youtube, Pinterest. Join the conversation and I’ll see you next time on The Spa Dr. Podcast.