Skin conditions
Fine lines, deeper wrinkles, looser skin and a duller surface arrive on their own schedule. They are different problems with different fixes, and the right plan starts by telling them apart.
Physician led. Burnaby and Richmond. Every skin tone since 1996.
Book a complimentary consultationA physician assesses your skin and explains your plan before you decide anything.
Understanding the condition
Skin aging is a gradual change in the structure of the skin that shows as fine lines, wrinkles, looseness, uneven tone and lost volume, and each of those signs has its own cause and its own treatment.
Two processes age your skin at once. Intrinsic aging is the slow, genetically programmed part: from early adulthood the skin makes about 1 percent less collagen each year, elastin is barely replaced, and the cells that build both proteins gradually slow down. This is the aging you inherit.
Extrinsic aging is driven from outside, and it is larger than most people expect. Ultraviolet exposure accounts for about 80 percent of the visible signs of facial aging in fair skin, switching on the enzymes that break collagen down, which is why sun-exposed skin wrinkles and mottles while covered skin stays smoother. Smoking, air pollution and the hormonal shifts around menopause add to the same change.
Aging then shows up as four problems that look alike from across a room and treat very differently: fine lines, wrinkles, laxity and volume loss. Telling them apart is where a plan begins.
Four different problems
Shallow surface creases, often first around the eyes and mouth, from thinning skin and repeated expression. They respond to collagen-stimulating and resurfacing treatments.
Dynamic wrinkles appear with expression and fade at rest. Years of folding etch a static crease that stays when the face is relaxed. Movement lines respond to wrinkle relaxing injections, etched creases need collagen remodelling too.
Looseness along the jawline, under the chin and in the neck. This is a deep structural change that surface treatments do little for, and it responds to energy-based tightening and lifting.
Hollowing of cheeks, temples and under the eyes as facial fat deflates and bone remodels. Skin treatments cannot replace structure, so this routes to a volume plan of its own.
The BioPlus difference
Melanin is built-in sun protection. Deeply pigmented skin filters ultraviolet light several times more effectively than fair skin, and because roughly 80 percent of visible facial aging is UV driven, that filter changes the whole timetable of aging. It changes the timetable, not the destination. Every skin tone ages, and every skin tone benefits from sunscreen.
Lighter skin tends to age first and lead with texture, fine lines, broken capillaries and sun spots. East Asian skin often shows pigment change and uneven tone years before wrinkles, and when wrinkles arrive they can progress faster. Deeper skin tones wrinkle later and finer, and the dominant complaint is uneven tone and marks that outlast what caused them. Laxity and volume loss still follow the same structural timetable on every face.
This is why experience matters. In darker skin the melanin that protects against the sun also competes for laser light, so broad-spectrum devices such as IPL raise the risk of burns and pigment change in Fitzpatrick IV to VI. BioPlus reserves those for lighter skin and treats deeper tones with wavelengths melanin barely absorbs, or with radiofrequency, microneedling and ultrasound that do not target pigment at all. We have treated pigment across every skin tone since 1996, and many patients arrived after being declined elsewhere.
Lighter skin leads with lines and sun spots, East Asian skin with pigment before wrinkles, deeper tones with uneven tone. Your plan meets the aging you actually have.
Fitzpatrick type decides which devices are on the table at all. Deeper tones are treated on 1064 nm and 1927 nm lasers, radiofrequency, microneedling and ultrasound, the technologies melanin barely competes with.
Bone and fat change are not pigment dependent, so laxity and volume loss arrive on the same timetable for every face, whatever its tone.
In Fitzpatrick IV to VI the melanin that shields skin from the sun also absorbs broad-spectrum light, so IPL and similar devices carry a real risk of burns and lasting pigment change. We reserve IPL for lighter skin and treat deeper tones on 1064 nm and 1927 nm lasers, radiofrequency, microneedling and ultrasound. Planning for that is the difference between clearing pigment and creating it.
That choice is thirty years of treating every skin tone talking.
How your visit works
Aging shows up as several problems at once, and they look alike from across the room. So the visit starts by telling them apart.
A physician reviews how your skin has changed, your health and medications, sun habits, and any history of cold sores, keloid scarring or pigment marks, because these change device choice and settings.
An expression test sorts moving lines from etched ones, a pinch and recoil check grades laxity, and lighting maps volume and tone. Your Fitzpatrick type is documented, and you leave with which problems to treat, in what order, with what, and full costs.
Nothing is treated on the day unless you want it to be. When you are ready, work is sequenced and settings are chosen for your skin tone, starting conservatively.
Standardised photographs in the same lighting and angle track progress through your plan, and maintenance is planned from the start, because collagen keeps declining about 1 percent a year.
How care is built
That is by design. A plan is built from a series of decisions your physician walks you through, so the plan reflects your skin rather than a single machine.
Movement lines route to wrinkle relaxing injections, surface damage and dullness to resurfacing and pigment lasers, texture and pores to microneedling and radiofrequency, looseness to lifting energy, and hollowing to a volume plan of its own. Most plans combine two of these.
The 30s favour prevention and surface quality, the 40s combination work, the 50s structure, as collagen falls about 30 percent in the first five postmenopausal years. Fitzpatrick type then decides which machines are on the table at all.
Every result has a recovery price and a cost rhythm, and we tell you both before you book. A slower zero-downtime series can reach much of the same ground as fewer, harder sessions, and collagen results are maintained once or twice a year.
Treatments we may use
A representative selection from the technologies we map to aging skin. Which appear in your plan depends on which problem leads, your stage of aging and your skin tone. Each links to its own page.
Injectable for movement lines
A prescription medication that temporarily relaxes the small muscles whose repeated folding creates frown lines, forehead lines and crow's feet. Effect begins in 2 to 7 days, peaks around 2 weeks and lasts 3 to 4 months.
Why this oneThe best evidenced treatment for dynamic lines, with efficacy and safety unchanged by skin tone.
Learn more →Dissolvable lifting threads
Dissolvable surgical threads placed under the skin reposition early sagging and stimulate collagen along their track. Barbed threads give an immediate modest lift of cheeks and jowls, smooth threads add firmness.
Why this oneMeaningful improvement lasting about 12 months for mild to moderate descent, without surgery.
Learn more →1927 nm thulium laser
A thulium fractional laser that places thousands of microscopic renewal columns where sun damage lives, then uses the open channels to deliver serum. A split-face trial in Asian patients showed photoaging improvement with collagen regeneration on biopsy.
Why this oneSurface renewal with days rather than weeks of downtime, on a wavelength safer for deeper skin tones.
Learn more →1064 nm picosecond laser
A picosecond platform built on a 1064 nm engine, the wavelength epidermal melanin absorbs least, with microbeam handpieces that renew collagen beneath an intact surface. A 2025 study reported improved texture, tone and photoaging in Asian skin.
Why this oneThe safest picosecond rejuvenation wavelength for Fitzpatrick IV to VI.
Learn more →Radiofrequency microneedling
Coated microneedles release heat at a depth the physician sets, up to about 4 mm on the face, remodelling the dermis and the tissue just beneath it. Published series document improvement in texture, fine lines and photoaging.
Why this oneFor the aging face that needs firmness and texture together, in any skin tone.
Learn more →Radiofrequency microneedling
A bipolar radiofrequency microneedling platform with a continuous wave for collagen remodelling and an ultra-short pulsed wave developed for pigment-prone and redness-prone skin, targeting the vessels and basement membrane changes that keep restimulating pigment.
Why this oneFor the aging face that also carries melasma or uneven tone, where a standard device could provoke the pigment beside it.
Learn more →Microfocused ultrasound
Microfocused ultrasound with real-time imaging, focusing heat into precise points as deep as the SMAS, the layer a facelift tightens, while the physician watches the tissue on screen. A 2023 systematic review found consistent facial tightening with a good safety profile.
Why this oneThe strongest single-session non-surgical lift in the clinic, in any skin tone, building over 6 months.
Learn more →Long-pulsed 1064 nm protocol
A BioPlus signature protocol on the Cynosure Elite iQ: a series of long-pulsed 1064 nm passes at varied depths, guided by a melanin reader, finished with a lifting facial massage. The 1064 nm literature reports improvement in fine lines, laxity and pore size over a series.
Why this oneZero-downtime collagen work on the laser class safest for deep skin tones, a rational first laser for Fitzpatrick IV to VI.
Learn more →BioPlus by the numbers
What to expect
Wrinkle relaxing injections show in 2 to 7 days. Every collagen treatment here, laser, microneedling, radiofrequency or ultrasound, builds over 2 to 3 months as new collagen forms, and a combined plan shows its full effect 3 to 6 months after it starts.
Single-session tighteners such as Thermage FLX, Ultherapy PRIME and Sofwave repeat about once a year. Series treatments run 3 to 6 sessions about 4 weeks apart, or 6 to 8 shorter weekly ones. Injections refresh every 3 to 4 months.
Many options have none. Microneedling, radiofrequency microneedling and fractional resurfacing bring 1 to 3 days of redness with light flaking or grid marks up to a week. Thread lifting brings 3 to 7 days of swelling. We tell you before you book.
Gentle cleanser and bland moisturiser, no picking at flaking skin, no retinoids or acids for about a week after resurfacing or needling, and daily broad-spectrum sunscreen throughout, because unprotected sun can undo the work.
Here is the honest part. Collagen keeps declining about 1 percent a year, so the results these treatments build are maintained, not banked once and forgotten, usually with one or two sessions a year of the technology that built them. Results also vary from person to person, and your physician will tell you what is realistic for your skin before you decide anything. Sunscreen is not a courtesy suggestion. It is the single most effective thing you can do, because ultraviolet light drives about 80 percent of visible facial aging.
Fine lines, laxity, pigment and volume are four different problems. The skill is telling them apart before anyone reaches for a machine.
The BioPlus approach to aging skin
Questions patients ask
There is no single best treatment, because fine lines, deeper wrinkles, loose skin and volume loss are different problems that respond to different technologies. The best plan treats the problem your face actually has: wrinkle relaxing injections for movement lines, resurfacing lasers for surface damage and fine lines, radiofrequency microneedling for texture and firmness, and ultrasound or monopolar radiofrequency for lifting. At BioPlus a physician examines your skin at a complimentary consultation and builds the plan from 25 treatment options rather than fitting you to one machine.
Fine lines are shallow surface creases from early collagen thinning. Wrinkles are deeper folds that have become etched into the skin, and the deepest ones are visible even when your face is fully relaxed. Fine lines usually respond to collagen-stimulating and light resurfacing treatments, while established wrinkles usually need a combination: wrinkle relaxing injections for the movement component plus collagen remodelling for the etched crease.
Start when something bothers you, because stage matters more than age. Skin collagen declines about 1 percent per year through adult life, so people in their late 20s and 30s usually begin with prevention, sunscreen, surface quality and collagen banking, while people in their 40s and beyond usually need combination plans that add tightening or pigment correction. A consultation tells you which stage your skin is at, and it is complimentary.
Deeper skin tones are treated on technologies that do not target pigment: radiofrequency, microneedling, ultrasound lifting and the 1064 nm and 1927 nm laser wavelengths that melanin barely absorbs. Broadband light such as IPL carries burn and pigmentation risk in Fitzpatrick IV to VI, so BioPlus reserves it for lighter skin and plans darker skin around melanin-independent devices with conservative settings. BioPlus has treated pigment across every skin tone since 1996, including many patients declined at other clinics.
Asian skin usually ages with pigment change first and wrinkles later, so the best early plan targets tone and surface quality, and adds wrinkle and tightening work when it is actually needed. Research comparing Chinese and European women found wrinkle onset roughly 10 years later in Chinese women, with pigmentation the dominant early sign. BioPlus plans reflect that pattern: 1927 nm and picosecond laser work for tone, radiofrequency microneedling for texture in pigment-prone skin, and tightening devices from the 50s when wrinkle progression accelerates.
Facial results typically last 3 to 4 months, with effect beginning 2 to 7 days after treatment and settling by 2 weeks. Duration varies with dose, the muscle treated and your own metabolism, and repeat treatment keeps results continuous. A 2021 Cochrane review of 65 randomised trials confirms the effect on frown lines with mostly minor, temporary side effects. Your physician explains the medication options, dose and price at consultation.
Most collagen-building plans run 3 to 6 sessions spaced about 4 weeks apart, while single-session technologies such as Thermage FLX, Ultherapy PRIME and Sofwave are repeated roughly once a year. Wrinkle relaxing injections are refreshed every 3 to 4 months. Your number depends on your skin, your goals and the technologies in your plan, and your physician states it, with costs, before you book anything.
Cost depends on which problem you are treating and which technology treats it: a series of maintenance sessions prices differently from a once-a-year structural treatment, and injectable plans price by dose. At BioPlus the physician prices your complete plan at the complimentary consultation, so you compare full plans rather than single sessions. Our services are private esthetic services and are not covered by MSP.
Partly, yes. About 80 percent of visible facial aging in fair skin is driven by sun exposure, so daily broad-spectrum sunscreen is the single most effective prevention at any age, alongside not smoking. Treatment adds to that: wrinkle relaxing injections slow the etching of movement lines, and collagen-stimulating treatments in your 30s and 40s bank structure the following decades will draw on.
Many treatments on this page have none, and the rest cost days rather than weeks. Forma, Sofwave, Thermage FLX and the 5D Collagen Lift protocol are zero-downtime. Microneedling, radiofrequency microneedling and fractional resurfacing typically bring 1 to 3 days of redness with light flaking or grid marks up to a week. Thread lifting brings 3 to 7 days of swelling. Your plan is built around your calendar, and we tell you the recovery picture for every option before you book.
Related concerns
Looseness
When jawline, chin or neck looseness is the main concern, the full lifting and tightening toolkit lives here.
Hollowing
Flattening cheeks, hollow temples and deepening folds are structural changes that injectable plans address.
Uneven tone
Sun spots, uneven tone and melasma often age a face more than its lines do, and they are treated as their own condition.
Tired eyes
Dark circles, hollows and crepey under-eye skin have their own causes and their own plan.
Complimentary consultation
Your consultation is complimentary. A BioPlus physician examines your skin, separates what is line, laxity, pigment and volume, and builds a plan from the widest treatment range in our thirty years. Results vary from person to person, and your physician will tell you what is realistic for your skin before you decide anything.
Book a complimentary consultationExplore treatmentsOur services are private esthetic services and are not covered by MSP.