IJCRR - 5(13), July, 2013
Pages: 25-28
Date of Publication: 17-Jul-2013
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ROLE OF LIP PRINT IN PERSONAL IDENTIFICATION
Author: Neeraj Gupta, Prerna Gupta, D.I. Ingale, Chandrashekhar Bhuyyar, U.C. Nuchhi, S. R. Hibare
Category: Healthcare
Abstract:The lip prints are the normal lines and fissures in the zone of transition of human lip between mucosa and the skin. They are identifiable as early as the sixth week of intrauterine life. They are permanent, unchangeable even after death, and unique to each person except in monozygotic twins. The analysis of fingerprints and bite marks are used to establish identity of an individual in the court of law same way lip print has also been considered to establish the identity of an individual especially in sexual assault cases. The present study is being carried out to identify different types of lip prints, their relation with gender and to see their uniqueness. Lip prints were obtained from 1st year medical students in the age group between 18 \? 25 years. The lip prints were taken by applying lipstick and prints taken on bond paper. Prints were studied with the help of a magnifying lens by applying Suzuki's classification. The result and its implication will be discussed in the presentation.
Keywords: lip prints, personal identification, Suzuki’s classification.
Full Text:
INTRODUCTION
The lip prints are the normal lines and fissures in the zone of transition of human lip between mucosa and the skin.1,2They are permanent, unchangeable even after death, and unique to each person except in monozygotic twins.1-9 The analysis of fingerprints and bite marks are used to establish identity of an individual in the court of law same way lip print has also been considered to establish the identity of an individual especially in sexual assault cases. Objectives of study: To identify different patterns of lip print and their relation with gender.To check the uniqueness of lip print. Source of data: The subjects under study will be 1 st year medical students between age 18-20 yrs of BLDE University’s Shri B.M. Patil Medical College, hospital and research centre, Bijapur. Method of data collection: The study was conducted over a period of 2 months. 1st year medical students of Indian origin, belonging to age group of 18–20 years were taken as subjects.Written informed consent of the subjects were taken.Lipstick was applied on thelips of thesubject with a single stroke.Then with the help of a paper, the centre portion of lips was dabbed first and then left and right corners of lips pressed, applying uniform pressure, taking care to avoid sliding of lips to prevent smudging of the print.After the lip prints were acquired, details such as name, sex, age was documented. Each lip print was assigned a serial number. Each lip print was compared manually with others using a magnifying glass to test the uniqueness of lip prints.2-4 . Patterns of lip print were studied by applying Suzuki’s classification.10-11
INCLUSION CRITERIA
Both males and females between age group 18 - 20 years Subjects free from any ongoing or inert lesions on their lips.
EXCLUSION CRITERIA
Students with known hypersensitivity to lip sticks. Active or passive lip lesions and non-resident Indians. Student who did not give consent. Sample size 1. Male students = 60 2. Females students =68 3. Total sample size = 128 TYPE OF STUDY Prospective study of duration two months and data was analysed by using following statistical methods. Tabulated presentation. Mean +/ - Standard deviation.
Suzuki’s classification
1. Type I: Vertical, complete (end-to-end) longitudinal fissures. 2. Type I’ (one - dash): Incomplete vertical longitudinal fissures. 3. Type II: Branching, Y-shaped pattern. 4. Type III: Criss-cross pattern. 5. Type IV: Reticular, typical chequered pattern,which are fence like
DISCUSSION
It was observed that Type I was the most frequently observed in both the sexes. Other works on Indian subjects have yielded varying results. Vahanwalla and Parekh in their study in Mumbai found that Type I was the most frequent.4 Sivapathasundharam, Prakash and Sivakumar studied the lip prints of Indo-Dravidian population and noted that Type III was predominant. 2 PrateekRastogi in his study among medical students found that the incidence of Type I was the highest among males which is similar to our finding. 12 Cheiloscopy is a relatively new method available to the forensic experts for identification purpose.
UNIQUENESS OF LIP PRINTS
Lip prints are unique to individuals and remain unchanged throughout life. Identifiable lip prints can be reproduced up to one month after being produced. ? Lipstick smears are commonly encountered in forensic science laboratories as an important means of evidence. ? Smears can also be found in other places, such as glasses, cups, spoons or cigarette butts, therefore indicating some kind of relationship between a suspect and the crime scene. 13 ? Cheiloscopy is still an inexact science and more studies need to be done to confirm its validity. Limitations of Cheiloscopy The lip print is produced by a substantially mobile portion of the lip. This fact itself explains the reason for the same individual producing different lip prints, according to the pressureor the method used for taking the print. Amount of lipstick can also affect the print. Smudging of lip prints is one of the major limitations of using lip sticks. Manual register of the overlay is another problem, due to the possibility of some subjectivity Another factor to be considered is the existence of some pathological conditions (lymphangiomas, congenital lip fistula, lip sclerodermi, Merkelson– Rosenthal syndrome, syphilis, lip cheilitis,among others), which can invalidate the cheiloscopic study.14
CONCLUSION
From the results of present study it can be shown that lip print is unique for each individual and it show gender wise predilection. Thus Cheiloscopy can be mean for identification of individual.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
Authors acknowledge the great help received from the scholars whose articles are cited and included in references of this manuscript. The authors are also grateful to authors / editors /publishers of all those articles, journals and books from where the literature for this article has been reviewed and discussed. Authors are grateful to IJCRR editorial board members and IJCRR team of reviewers who have helped to bring quality of this manuscript.
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