FRUSTRATED by her own battle with chronic acne, Dr Kimberley Johnson set out a few years ago to treat herself, turning to formally studying the matter and remedies, but little did she know her quest would see her a few short years after walking away from working in a hospital to eventually starting her own private practice to help people with skin issues.

Dr Kym, as she prefers to be called, first came to public attention at the height of the COVID pandemic as the young pulmonologist — a doctor who diagnoses and treats diseases of the respiratory system — who took to social media to give advice about how people can fight the disease. At the time, she herself was fighting her own battles.

“I had the worst skin I have ever seen, and to date I don’t think I have met a patient with skin that was as bad as mine,” Dr Kym told the Jamaica Observer in an interview ahead of the official opening of her practice, Skyn by Dr Kym at The Summit in New Kingston, St Andrew.

Dr Kym said her acne was so bad, she could not sleep with her face touching any part of the bed for fear of the pain it would cause. Her self-confidence was low and she said she would walk with her head towards the ground because she didn’t like to see people staring at her acne-covered face caused by polycystic ovarian syndrome — a common hormone problem affecting women of childbearing age. It was acne she would try her best to cover with heavy makeup as she went about her work dealing with patients each day.

But at the start of the pandemic, she said she realised that it would have been difficult to wear makeup with the masks and so she had to finally do something about the acne. Dr Kym said she then decided to make the investment to learn more about skincare.

“My first training was online from a Russian university,” she told Sunday Finance. “But when the war started I couldn’t get my certificate so I switched to an American university.” The war she referenced is the Russian invasion of Ukraine just over a year ago.

However before that, Dr Kym said she got sick really bad and had to stay home from her job fighting COVID, including for two months with no pay leave.

“At the end of the leave, I said I was not going back. I couldn’t manage anymore. COVID had drained me mentally and physically and contributed to me getting sick. So I had to slow down and do me. During that time, I was at home dealing with my skin issues and sharing it on social media, and people on Twitter were asking me what I did with my skin to make it look so good and without makeup. Then I started a YouTube channel to give information and from that people were saying ‘Doc, can I come to you for treatment’.”

For her, that was the calling for her to change her focus in health care from pulmonology to aesthetics — the branch of medicine which deals with bringing back youth to the skin or to maintaining the youth of the skin and treat skin issues and deal with beauty.

Luck would have it that because she was not working, a colleague medical practitioner invited here to work as a general practitioner at a private practice and allowed her to also practice skincare. She was also doing virtual consultations and was studying and working at the same time.

“And then when I had my last training in December 2022, I said to myself ‘you know sey I want to just do aesthetics alone’. I was then introduced to the masters degree in anti-aging and then I decided to just leave and open this skincare centre.”

The practice, which caters to varying skin issues, was opened on March 20, 2023, but had its official launch on Saturday.

Dr Kym said she poured all her savings into setting up the location and as soon as she started, patients started flooding in.

“It was all YouTube. People say, ‘Doc, you have office now’ and they started coming in,” she reflected. Her patients, she said, mostly came from those who also followed her skincare advice on Twitter.

But while she now does face lifts, ultrasonic cavitation — that is melting belly fat, Botox, dermal fillers for lips and under eyes along with a long list of other treatments, Dr Kym said she still does work as a general practitioner at Skyn by Dr Kym, administering nebulizer, diagnosing illnesses and writing prescriptions and so on.

“My mantra is helping people take control of their health. I want to bring the same thing to skincare. A lot of women are struggling and it really affects how they interact with people. Just even skincare issues are an indicator of something else happening on the inside.”

She said business has so far been good. At Skyn by Dr Kym, she works with two nurses and a colleague medical doctor. And though she has just taken the plunge into entrepreneurship, Dr Kym is already thinking ahead.

“We hope to have other branches in the near future,” she said. The hope is that Skyn by Dr Kym would have branches even outside Jamaica if the opportunity arises and the funding can be secured to expand.

She said turning to skincare has left her feeling fulfilled.

“I am giving to patients, but I am also taking care of myself because I am also doing anti-aging, dealing with the diseases that can come when we age such as diabetes and hypertension.

So what’s next for Dr Kym?

“Look out for a cosmetics line coming soon under the Dr Kym brand,” she told Jampreneur.

“We’ll be doing from the most basic cosmetics to the most complicated. So we will be doing cleansers, treatments for hyperpigmentation, moisturisers etc, but we won’t be doing sunscreen.”

For Dr Kym, the skin tells us stories about what is happening inside our bodies and so she will be treating the skin from inside out.