During the dissolution of solid surfactants in water, various types of nonequilibrium microstructures have been observed. The most important one is the myelin growth which can be observed when some poorly water soluble surfactants such as phosphatidyleholine (PC), Aerosol-OT (AOT), etc. are contacted with water. In this study initial myelin growth for a period of 2-4 s is studied both qualitatively as well as quantitatively in all the directions with respect to water flow in a PC system using digital video microscopy. Further, overall myelin growth is studied by means of optical microscopy to understand the effect of distance between cover slip and glass slide on myelin growth. Experiments are also performed to study effect of additives (silica) to lamellar phase on diffusion coefficients. It has been observed that the presence of silica particles causes extensive coiling of myelin structures. The mechanism of water transport into the lamellar phase during myelin growth is investigated by using silica in a colloidal range as dopant material. (C) 2003 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.