Gold nanoparticles functionalized with antibodies can specifically bind to molecular biomarkers such as epithelial growth factor receptor (EGFR). The molecule specific nature of the antibody-functionalized gold nanoparticles forms the basis for the developed optoacoustic imaging technique to detect cancer at an asymptotic stage. Optoacoustic imaging was performed with 532 nm and 680 nm pulsed laser irradiation on three-dimensional tissue phantoms prepared using a human keratinocyte cell line. The results of our study demonstrate that the combination of anti-EGFR gold ioconjugates and optoacoustic imaging can allow highly sensitive and selective detection of human epithelial cancer cells.