A palm print is an image acquired of the palm region of the

hand A hand is a prehensile, multi-fingered appendage located at the end of the forearm or forelimb of primates such as humans, chimpanzees, monkeys, and lemurs. A few other vertebrates such as the Koala#Characteristics, koala (which has two thumb#O ...

. It can be either an online image (i.e. taken by a scanner or CCD) or offline image where the image is taken with ink and

paper Paper is a thin sheet material produced by mechanically or chemically processing cellulose fibres derived from wood, Textile, rags, poaceae, grasses, Feces#Other uses, herbivore dung, or other vegetable sources in water. Once the water is dra ...

. The palm itself consists of principal lines,

wrinkle A wrinkle, also known as a rhytid, is a fold, ridge or crease in an otherwise smooth surface, such as on skin or fabric. Skin wrinkles typically appear as a result of ageing processes such as glycation, habitual sleeping positions, loss of b ...

s (secondary lines), and epidermal ridges. It differs to a

fingerprint A fingerprint is an impression left by the friction ridges of a human finger. The recovery of partial fingerprints from a crime scene is an important method of forensic science. Moisture and grease on a finger result in fingerprints on surfa ...

in that it also contains other information such as texture, indents and marks which can be used when comparing one palm to another. Palm prints can be used for criminal, forensic, or commercial applications. Palm prints, typically from the palm, are often found at crime scenes as the result of the offender's gloves slipping during the commission of the crime, and thus exposing part of the unprotected hand.

References

{{commonscatinline, Palm prints Biometrics Fingerprints Forensic evidence Hand