title: Lip outline: A new paradigm in forensic sciences.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Personal identification is becoming increasingly important not only in legal medicine but also in crime/criminal investigation and identification. Sometimes establishing a person's identity can be a very difficult process. Dental, fingerprint, and DNA comparisons are probably the most common technique used. However, there are many well-known implanted methods of human identification, one of the most interesting emerging methods of human identification which originates from the criminal and forensic practice, is human lips recognition. Cheiloscopy is a forensic investigation technique that deals with the identification based on lip traces. The lip outline of every person is unique and can be used to fix the personal identity.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  The aim of this study was to assess the distribution of lip outline patterns among males and females, and to evaluate the uniqueness of lip outline pattern.
  
  
  METHODS
  The study group comprised of 200 individuals from Kamineni Institute of Dental Sciences. Lip outline patterns were obtained and were transferred to the proforma sheet for analysis.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The results of the study revealed that the lip outline patterns for each individual were unique.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This study showed that lip outline patterns are unique to each individual and can be used for personal identification.
authors.affiliation: Department of Oral Pathology, Kamineni Institute of Dental Sciences, Nalgonda, Telangana, India.
authors.forename: Aruna Kumari
authors.initials: AK
authors.lastname: Maloth
authors.affiliation: Department of Oral Pathology, Kamineni Institute of Dental Sciences, Nalgonda, Telangana, India.
authors.forename: Shyam Prasad Reddy
authors.initials: SP
authors.lastname: Dorankula
authors.affiliation: Department of Oral Pathology, Mallareddy Dental College for Women's, Hyderabad, Telangana, India.
authors.forename: Ajay Prakash
authors.initials: AP
authors.lastname: Pasupula
keywords: Cheiloscopy; forensic sciences; lip outlines