Morphological Variation of Lip Patterns among Nepali Adults.

Background Lip patterns are normal lines and fissures in the form of wrinkles and grooves present in the zone of transition of the human lip between the inner labial mucosa and the outer skin. Lip patterns are said to be unchangeable and unique. Objective To determine predominant lip patterns found among the Nepali population and to evaluate whether any sex difference exists. Method This study included 411 healthy adult Nepali comprising 215 males and 196 females in the age group of 18-27 years. The data was collected using an automated mode Canon EOS 3000D 18MP camera with an 18-55 mm lens. Lip patterns were then divided into four quadrants using Suzuki and Tsuchihashi's classification system. Result Lip pattern Type I (29.56%) was found to be the most common lip pattern in the study population. Sex-wise, Type I was the most common pattern with a prevalence of 28.72% in males and 30.48% in females. Applying the Chi-square test, a statistically significant difference (p 0.05) was not achieved in all the quadrants. Conclusion There is a marked variation observed between the findings of the present study when compared to previous Nepali studies. Being insignificant to sex differences, lip patterns should not be used as a useful resource in forensic casework for sex discrimination.