RESUMEN
BACKGROUND: Three main elements make up the complete study of palmistry: chiromancy, chirognomy, and dermatoglyphics. Throughout the world, research on palmistry is continuing. Since the early 20th century, many medical researchers all over the world have been using dermatoglyphics to conduct tests and trials in many areas of medical research, with some of their findings published every so often. In contrast, developments in palmistry techniques using skin patterns have been rarely publicized, especially in Korea. OBJECTIVE: This study investigated the character of the palm lines of Koreans according to age. METHODS: This study involved 140 cases of healthy men and women. They were divided into seven groups according to age, with each group having 20 cases. Features of main lines (life line, head line, and heart line) were observed according to age. We classified the features of main lines into three types: type 1 (the feature that head line and life line start with one line), type 2 (the feature that head line and life line start with two separate lines), and simian crease. RESULTS: 1. The most prevalent type is type 1 (left palm-73.6%, right palm-77.1%), followed by type 2 (left palm-21.4%, right palm-19.37%). Simian crease was observed in 3.6 percent of the cases. 2. Characteristic past history could not be detected from the palm lines. 3. About 50 percent of the type 2 cases showed either right or left hand having the type 2 figure. On the other hand, those with the simian crease had it on both left and right hand. 4. No difference in palm lines was detected for each age group. CONCLUSION: The character of the palm lines of Koreans was investigated. There was no significant difference in character according to age.