We develop a model of full-field optical coherence tomography (FF-OCT) that includes a description of partial temporal and spatial coherence, together with a mean-field scattering theory going beyond the Born approximation. Based on explicit expressions of the FF-OCT signal, we discuss essential features of FF-OCT imaging, such as the influence of partial coherence on the optical transfer function, and on the decay of the signal with depth. We derive the conditions under which the spatially averaged signal exhibits a pure exponential decay, providing a clear frame for the use of the Beer–Lambert law for quantitative measurements of the extinction length in scattering media.