Impulse (time domain) laser photopyroelectric effect spectrometry uses the time dependence of heat diffusion in an irradiated sample to infer optical and thermal property depth distributions in the sample. This method was used in conjunction with a recently reported method of inverse problem theory to recover the depth dependence of optical absorption in photodegraded thin films of poly(vinyl chloride) (PVC) on a depth scale of a few tens of microns. The thin films were photodegraded under broadband ultraviolet light prior to photothermal analysis to induce subsurface profiles of visible absorption arising from the depth dependence of light initiated dehydrochlorination reactions in the films, Optical depth profile reconstructions could be made in samples that had undergone mild degradation only and where the absence of significant thermal effusivity changes accompanying degradation could be confirmed. Reconstructed optical transmission profiles were compared with optical transmission micrographs and were shown to resolve features that arise from the depth dependence of photo-induced dehydrochlorination reactions in the films. The extent of these latter reactions is controlled by the depth dependence of the oxygen concentration in the films.