Concern
Lines that stay when your face is still
Forehead and frown lines are muscle before they are skin. The question that decides your result is not the dose — it is whether the line is still only there when you move.
What is actually happening
Two stages, and they are treated differently.
- Repeated muscle contraction folds the skin in the same place, thousands of times a year
- While the line only appears on movement, it is dynamic — relaxing the muscle lets it flatten
- Once the fold is visible at rest, the dermis itself is creased and muscle relaxation alone will not erase it
- Thin skin and sun exposure move that transition earlier
- A heavy brow can make forehead lines worse, because the forehead is holding the brow up
Realistic options
Ordered by how much they change, not by what is easiest to sell. This is among the most common reasons people book a first appointment at our North Vancouver clinic, and it is also the one where the assessment matters more than the dose.
- No treatment needed
Nothing, if the line only shows on movement and does not bother you
A moving face is not a defect. Plenty of people book for a line they only see in a front camera at arm’s length, which is a distance and an angle nobody else views them from.
If you are treating for photographs, say so — it changes the dose we would suggest, and sometimes it changes the answer to no.
- Skin & body
Neuromodulator treatment
Relaxes the specific muscles that fold the skin. Dose and placement are decided at the assessment and written down before anything is injected — it is a decision, not a menu item.
- Downtime
- None
- Typically lasts
- 3–4 months, shortening slightly with regular use for some people
- Skin & body
A line that is already etched at rest
Relaxing the muscle stops it deepening, but the existing crease needs the skin itself treated. That is a second, slower job and it is worth knowing before you start rather than after.
- Downtime
- Minimal
- Typically lasts
- Gradual, over a course
Dose is not a proxy for quality and more is not better. What is appropriate depends on your muscle bulk and how you use your face, which is why it is set in person.
What people ask
Will I look frozen?
Not if the dose matches your anatomy, and that is the assessment’s job. Tell us if you would rather keep more movement than the average — that is a legitimate goal and it changes the plan, not the price.
How long before I see anything?
Three to five days for the first change, ten to fourteen days for the final result. Judging it at day four and asking for more is the most common way people end up overtreated.
What if I do not like it?
It wears off. That is the honest safety net of this treatment. Come back and tell us what you disliked so the next map is different — that record is why the next one is planned better than this one.
Does it prevent lines from forming?
It reduces the folding that creates them, which is not the same as prevention and should not be sold as it. We will not tell you a treatment stops you ageing.
Is there any downtime, and how soon can I exercise?
There is no recovery period from a neuromodulator. Small raised marks at the injection points settle within about an hour; a bruise, if one appears, takes a few days. Staying upright for four hours, leaving the gym until the next day and not rubbing the area are the standard instructions — they are about keeping the product in the muscle it was placed in, not about healing.
Not sure if yours is still a movement line?
Ask usWho does this
Assessments and treatments at the Lonsdale Avenue clinic in North Vancouver are carried out by MMC’s own clinicians. Who they are, what they trained in and which treatments each of them does is on the team page.
Other places people start
These are sorted by what is bothering you rather than by treatment name. Each page says what actually helps, what does not, and when the honest answer is that nothing here is needed.
- Loose Skin After Weight LossLosing the weight is the hard part and you have done it. What is left is usually a skin problem rather than a fat problem, and those have completely different answers.
- Fatigue & Low EnergyThis is the concern where we are least likely to sell you anything, and we would rather say that at the top of the page than at the end of a consultation.
- Dullness & Uneven ToneDullness and dehydration are a texture problem, not a shape problem. That distinction decides which half of the menu is even relevant.
- Volume Loss & HollowsVolume loss is the change people describe as looking tired or gaunt without being able to name a line. It is also the one where over-treatment is most visible from across a room.
- Hooded Upper LidsThe line where this stops being an injectable question and becomes a surgical one is unusually clear, and you are entitled to be told which side of it you are on.
- Jawline & Contour LossThe most common reason people book here, and the one where the honest answer changes most with age. In your forties a device usually does it. In your sixties it usually does not.
- Nasolabial FoldsNasolabial folds are usually a symptom. Filling the fold itself is the most common way to end up looking heavy in the lower face.
- Stubborn Body FatA pocket that stays the same size while the rest of you changes. Usually the flanks, the lower abdomen, or under the chin. The useful question is not which machine to use — it is whether what you are looking at is fat at all.
- Under-Eye Hollows & ShadowsThe most common request here, and the one where the answer is most often no. Under-eye shadow has at least four causes and filler helps exactly one of them.