Cheiloscopy for sex determination
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.4103/0974-2948.60374Keywords:
Cheiloscopy, lip-prints, sex determinationAbstract
Background: Identification of an individual is a pre-requisite for certification of death and for personal, social and legal reasons. The study of lip-prints (cheiloscopy) was thought of as a method of identification of a person. It is safe to assume that cheiloscopy, in its present stage of development, has become a means of criminalistic identification dealing with lip-prints. Objective: The objective of the study was to check for any peculiar lip patterns in relation to the sex of the individual and determine the most common lip patterns in the Indian population. Materials and Methods: This study was conducted on 140 subjects, which included 70 males and 70 females, in the age group of 0-70 years. After applying lip stick evenly, the lip-print of each subject was obtained on a simple bond paper by researcher number 1. The lip-print was then analyzed and interpreted by researcher number 2 to determine the sex of individuals. Results: We found that 67 of the actual 70 lip-prints of females were correctly identified and 65 of the 70 males were correctly diagnosed as males. Type C (47.14%) was the most commonly occurring trend in females whereas Type B (70%) was the most commonly occurring trend in males. Conclusion: Along with other traditional methods, cheiloscopy can also serve as very important tool in the identification of a person based on the characteristic arrangement of lines appearing on the red part of the lips.Downloads
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