Analysis of Age and Gender Using Lip Impression

Lip prints are acquiring popularity in forensic science because they are unique, stable, and capable of providing personal identification. Human identification is on the rise in this new millennium because of rising crime, natural disasters, and terrorist attacks. Lip prints are a unique pattern comprising the sulci labiorum, or wrinkles and grooves on the labial mucus. I agree that lip prints have uniqueness just like fingerprint and as such study of lip prints known as Cheiloscopy. Cheiloscopy is the study of the exterior portion of the lip, which includes a multitude of ridges and indentations that can create a distinctive pattern known as a lip print. Each individual is like a fingerprint, with its own unique features. This study examines the validity of lip prints in determining their age and gender considering a sample of 300 individuals, divided equally within the jurisdiction of two age groups and both sexes. The analysis of lip print patterns was performed in quadrants using Suzuki and Tsuchihashi classification, and chi-square, Pearson's correlation and regression analysis were applied to verify the results. A statistical analysis showed significant gender-related distributions, reporting significantly more Type I lip prints in women and more Type II and Type IV lip prints in men (p=0.043). Age effects included: patterns of change among young and old