Creating a safe, inclusive, and medically-led retreat where every person, regardless of gender or background, feels seen, supported, and beautifully themselves.
At The Refinery Skincare Retreat, our mission is to provide expert, doctor-led skincare and wrinkle relaxing treatments in a warm, welcoming environment that honors individuality over ideals.
We combine clinical precision with a human touch, guiding each client toward natural, subtle results that enhance, not mask, their unique beauty. Through honesty, education, and exceptional care, we aim to build lasting trust and help every client feel confident in their own skin.
Our vision is redefining what aesthetics care feels like…
Our Services
Neuromodulator Injection Treatments
There are many names given for these types of treatments, we like to call them
Wrinkle Relaxing Injections
Meet the Doctor-led Team
Dr Michelle Du Plessis
MBChB, DMCC, DRCOG, CCFP, L/RAMC
Physician. Veteran. Advocate.
Dr. Michelle Du Plessis brings over 15 years of medical experience to The Refinery. She began her career in the British Army in 2007, serving as a military doctor across various corners of the globe until her retirement in 2022. Along the way, she mastered the art of ‘keep calm and carry on’ often using creativity to forge solutions in unusual environments.
Now based in Canada, Dr. Michelle works as a locum family physician and gender-affirming care doctor, while also bringing her clinical expertise to the world of aesthetics. Having been a medical aesthetics patient for over 10 years, she’s certified in neuromodulator injections and dermal fillers, combining her perspective as a patient with her personal brand of doctoring— because when it comes to faces, she believes in a steady hand and a subtle touch. No frozen foreheads here, thank you very much.
Michelle’s patients love her for her honesty, warmth, and dry humor — as well as her uncanny ability to know when someone needs a little lift.
Outside of work, she’s a proud cat and dog mum, an amateur painter, yoga enthusiast, and weightlifter.
Dr Ali Bryce
MBChB, FRCS (Eng), MRCGP, CCFP
Surgeon-turned-family-doc, mountain enthusiast.
Born and raised in the Norfolk countryside, Dr. Ali Bryce’s medical journey began at Leicester University and has taken him from the operating theatre to the peaks of British Columbia — with plenty of interesting stops in between.
Originally trained as a surgeon in the UK, Ali spent years working in emergency medicine before switching gears to become a family doctor in 2008. (Yes, he’s basically seen it all — and yes, he has the stories to prove it!) He went on to become a GP trainer, clinical lead for an urban medical system, and CEO of a health industry company, all while keeping his sleeves rolled up in patient care.
Dr Ali moved to Kelowna in 2020, trading in British drizzle for mountain views and real winters. Since then, he’s been working in family medicine, hiking whatever trail is nearby, skiing at the first sign of snow, and playing golf with the sort of enthusiasm that far outweighs his talent.
Dr. Ali is a Fellow of the Royal College of General Practitioners (UK), a member of the Royal College of Surgeons (UK), the Canadian College of Family Physicians, and the College of Physicians and Surgeons of BC — which is a long way of saying: you're in very good hands.