Phosphatidylcholine (PC) liposomes were able to be reconstituted inside the pig stratum corneum (SC), the outermost layer of the skin. In addition, these vesicles protected the SC tissue against the octyl glucoside surfactant (OG) effect. These abilities were examined using high-resolution low-temperature scanning electron microscopy and freeze-substitution transmission electron microscopy. The treatment of the SC with OG led to the breaking of the corneocyte envelopes and to disorganization in the intercellular lipid structure. Previous incubation of SC with PC liposomes reduced the alterations induced by the OG, this protection being associated with the incorporation of about 10% of PC to the SC. Intact PC vesicles were found in the intercellular lipid domain of the SC samples treated first with PC liposomes and second with OG, after washing in water. The OG/PC molar ratio incorporated in these SC samples corresponded to that in which the transition micelle-lamellae occurs by dilution. Hence, the presence of PC vesicles inside the SC is explained by the incorporation of an OG/PC micellar system and the subsequent reconstitution in PC vesicles by continuous dilution during washing.