Cheiloscopy: An Aid to Personal Identification in India.

ABSTRACT

Background: As said “Identification is an individual’s birth right”. Identification of the individual is based on certain characteristics, which is unique to that individual. Cheiloscopy is the examination of lip prints, the lip prints are permanent and fixed, like fingerprint and palatal rugae, hence it can be used in personal identification. Aim: This study is undertaken to evaluate the uniqueness of lip print for personal identification Methods: The study was carried out on 400 subjects (200 male and 200 female) among the population of India. Lipstick was applied on the lips and print was taken on bond paper, the prints were divided into four quadrants and were analyzed by using magnifying lens and Suzuki and Tsuchihashi classification were used to identify the most common type of pattern among Indians for personal identification. Results: Our study shows that the most common type of pattern in Indian race was TYPE III (39%) and in all the quadrants (I, II, III, IV) most dominant pattern was type III in males and type II in females. Conclusion: The present study reveals that, there was no similarity in the lip print pattern of one individual with that of the other individual. The lip print pattern varies between the same age group people as well as among the population of same region.