Improvement of skin optical clearing efficacy by topical treatment of glycerol at different temperatures

Abstract

In the past decades, laser has been widely used in clinical diagnosis and cosmetic therapy. However, there is limitation for further usage in deeper tissue for high scattering property. Skin optical clearing technique, by introducing optical clearing agents (OCAs) into tissue, will have a potential impact on optical diagnosis and therapy. In this work, anhydrous glycerol at different temperatures of 4, 25, 32 and 45°C were applied respectively to in vitro porcine skin, and reflectance and transmittance spectra were then measured dynamically using a spectrometry combined with integrating sphere system. Further, reduced scattering coefficient and penetration depth were obtained. Results showed that, glycerol at different temperatures could induce the reduced scattering coefficient of in vitro skin to decrease and the penetration depth to increase. 4 and 25°C glycerol had similar effect, decreasing the scattering by 48.2% and 49.7%, and increasing penetration depth by 37.9% and 39.5%, respectively. However, 32 and 45°C glycerol treatment could decrease scattering by 61.6% and 76.6%, and increase penetration depth by 53.3% and 84.1%, respectively. In conclusion, glycerol at higher temperature can induce greater and faster skin optical clearing efficacy.