Circular and helical arrangement aspects of skin CBs.

A 3D circular arrangement of CBs is envisioned in a thick skin section. Birefringence compensation is observed in the collagen fibers oriented at 45° with respect to the crossed polarizer-analyzer. The various hues of gray are a function of differences in fiber orientation, resulting in birefringent images that range from complete compensation (black) to non-compensation (brilliance). Bar = 50 µm.