Bari A U, Muhammad Naeem, Simeen Ber Rahman.
Different patterns of Dermatoglyphics in normal Pakistani population.
Pak Armed Forces Med J Jan ;54(1):67-70.

Fingerprints are the patterns formed by parallel ridges on bare skin of fingertips. They are typical for higher primates, but occur sporadically in other mammals and are unique to the individual and remain unchanged over a lifetime. A study was carried out to delineate various patterns of fingerprints seen in our normal population. 300 otherwise healthy individuals belonging to heterogeneous population and of all ages were included. Fingerprints of all fingers of both hands were taken under standardized technique. Four patterns (loop, whorl, arch and composite) were seen. Loops were most common (57.2%), followed by whorls (29.8%) and arches (10.2%). Composite pattern was found to be least common (2.8%). These results were largely in conformity with previously done, one national and some international studies on the subject. This study provides a good base line data of different dermatoglyphic patterns in our population and further work is needed to explore its implications in various fields of medicine.

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