Optical clearing of skin under action of glycerol: Ex vivo and in vivo investigations

The behavior of optical parameters of the skin of a laboratory rat under the action of an aqueous solution of glycerol is studied ex vivo and in vivo. It is found that the collimated transmission coefficient of ex vivo skin samples increases by a factor of 20-40-fold depending on the wavelength in the studied spectral range, and the diffuse reflection coefficient of skin in vivo decreases on the average by 16%. The results presented can be useful for many methods of laser therapy and optical diagnostics of skin diseases and localization of subcutaneous neoplasms.