Assessment of Lip Print Patterns in South Indian Population-Role in Forensic Medicine

Abstract

Background: Forensic Medicine specialty mainly deals with medico-legal aspects. Lip prints like finger prints are individualistic and heritable. The pattern of lip print can be used as material evidence in solving medico-legal issues. Aims and Objectives: To identify the predominant pattern of lip prints in South Indian (Telangana State) population. Materials and Methods: We carried out study on 300 students (100 males and 200 females) in a Medical and a Dental institution in the state of Telangana, South India. After thoroughly cleaning the lips of the subjects, lipstick was applied uniformly. The impression of lip prints were taken on the glued portion of cellophane tape and then it was stuck on to a white bond paper. Then the obtained pattern of each of these lip prints were analyzed using a magnified hand lens and categorized into groups according to the classification of Suzuki and Tsuchihashi. Results: We found Type IV lip print pattern to be the most common in males and Type I in females. Type I pattern predominated in overall sample followed by Type I'. Conclusion: We found that the pattern of lip
prints were unique to each and every individual.