Absorption spectra and light penetration depth of normal and pathologically altered human skin

A three-layered skin model (stratum corneum, epidermis, and dermis) and engineering formulas for radiative transfer theory are used to study absorption spectra and light penetration depths of normal and pathologically altered skin. The formulas include small-angle and asymptotic approximations and a layer-addition method. These characteristics are calculated for wavelengths used for low-intensity laser therapy. We examined several pathologies such as vitiligo, edema, erythematosus lupus, and subcutaneous wound, for which the bulk concentrations of melanin and blood vessels or tissue structure (for subcutaneous wound) change compared with normal skin. The penetration depth spectrum is very similar to the inverted blood absorption spectrum. In other words, the depth is minimal at blood absorption maxima. The calculated absorption spectra enable the power and irradiation wavelength providing the required light effect to be selected. Relationships between the penetration depth and the diffuse reflectance coefficient of skin (unambiguously expressed through the absorption coefficient) are analyzed at different wavelengths. This makes it possible to find relationships between the light fields inside and outside the tissue. __________ Translated from Zhurnal Prikladnoi Spektroskopii Vol. 74, No. 3, pp. 387–394, May–June, 2007.