CHEILOSCOPY: A SCIENTIFIC APPROACH FOR PERSONAL IDENTIFICATION

Introduction: Cheiloscopy is derived from Greek word “Cheiloswhich” meaning lips.It is the study of characteristic pattern of elevations and depressions on labial mucosa. It is unique for every individual like fingerprints and hence can be used to determine the sex and for personal identity. Aim: This study is undertaken to evaluate the uniqueness of lip prints for sexual and personal identification of an individual. Materials and Methods: lipsticks, brush, cellophane tape, bond paper and magnifying lens. 50 male and 50 female students were selected from Yenepoya University. Lipstick was applied on their lips evenly and the prints were taken on folded bond paper. The cellophane tape was stuck on the paper to preserve it as permanent records. The prints were analysed using magnifying lens and Tsuchihashi’s classification of lip prints was used for to determine the most common pattern of lip prints found in males and females and to study any similarity of lip prints between two individuals. Observations and Results: Our study showed in males the predominant pattern was of type III pattern (40%), followed by type IV (22%), type I (18%), type I’ (12%) type II (6%) and type V(4%) respectively. This hierarchy is different for females, where type I was more predominant(54%),next was type I’ (28%), type III (10%), type IV (4%), type II (1%)and type V(2%) .Hence these results confirm the uniqueness of lip prints for every individual and show its variation according to gender. Conclusion: The data obtained from the above study shows promising results and indicates the uniqueness of lip prints like fingerprints for every individual. They hold a possible potential to determine the sex of an individual and hence can be used as records for personal identification.