A comparative analysis of lip print patterns for sex determination and permanency using lipstick, latent and digital methods in North Bihar

Forensic identification often relies on fingerprints, but their absence necessitates alternative tools such as lip prints (cheiloscopy). Therefore, it is of interest to evaluate the permanency of lip prints over one year and compared three recording methods-lipstick, latent prints and digital photography-for sex determination in the North Bihar population. Hence participants were assessed at baseline, 6 months and 12 months using Suzuki and Tsuchihashi classification. Lip print patterns remained stable over time with no significant intra- or inter-method differences and sex determination accuracy ranged from 63.8% to 67.2% across methods. Thus, we show lip prints are permanent and recording methods equally effective, though accuracy in sex determination requires further enhancement for forensic reliability.