title: Reflectance spectra of pigmented and nonpigmented skin in the UV spectral region.
abstract: We present measurements of reflectance spectra from human skin in vivo in the spectral range from 250 to 700 nm. These measurements show that the reflectance from strongly pigmented skin is higher than that from weakly pigmented skin at wavelengths shorter than approximately 300 nm. We simulate the measured results using a new radiative transfer model developed to study light propagation in skin tissue. Our simulations mimic the measured spectra when scattering from melanosomes, and fragmented melanosomes are taken into account. Scattering from microstructures with high relative refractive indices plays a major role in tissue optics. Our results show that scattering from melanosomes and fragmented melanosomes is of particular significance.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics and Technology, University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway. Kristian.Nielsen@ift.uib.no
authors.forename: Kristian P
authors.initials: KP
authors.lastname: Nielsen
authors.forename: Zhao
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Lu
authors.forename: Petras
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Juzenas
authors.forename: Jakob J
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Stamnes
authors.forename: Knut
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Stamnes
authors.forename: Johan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Moan
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D003116:Color; D006801:Humans; D015603:Keratinocytes / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism / Q000528:radiation effects; D051379:Mice; D008819:Mice, Nude; D008954:Models, Biological; D012867:Skin / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000378:metabolism / Q000528:radiation effects*; D012880:Skin Pigmentation / Q000528:radiation effects*; D013057:Spectrum Analysis; D014466:Ultraviolet Rays