<title>Optical properties of melanin in the skin and skinlike phantoms</title>

Experimental study and computer modeling were used to investigate the optical properties of melanin in the skin and skin-like phantoms. To investigate light scattering by melanosomes in skin we made skin-like phantoms on the base of gelatin with different content of melanin particles. Spectra of total transmittance and diffuse reflectance of the phantoms were obtained in the wavelength range from 400 to 800 nm. Absorption and reduced scattering coefficients of melanin were calculated. Mie theory was used to estimate the optical properties of melanin particles. Wavelength dependence of refractive indices of eumelanin particles (isolated and purified from the ink of the cuttlefish Sepia officinalis) and synthetic melanin particles was estimated.