Abstract
INTRODUCTION: The external ear is made up of the elastic cartilage. It is considered constant from the birth till death. Therefore, it's morphological variation plays important role in forensic medicine. The objective of this study was to identify this morphological variation among different nationality and the gender. METHODS: The study was conducted among 50 Nepali students and 50 Indian students of Manipal College of Medical Sciences. The simple random sampling was done. The morphological variation of external ear including different nature of shape of tragus, anti-tragus, lobe and margin of helix were studied on different gender and nationalities. RESULTS: The highest distribution in shape of tragus was round in Nepali 42 (84%) and Indian 37 (74%). Most of Nepali students had flat 26 (52%) shape of anti-tragus and medium for Indian 25 (50%). The maximum ear attached lobe were found in both Nepali and Indian 27 (54%) respectively. Most of the Indian students had elongated shape of helix 24 (48%) whereas in Nepalese round shape of helix 31 (62%). The male participants had maximum round shape of tragus 42 (76.3%), flat shape of anti-tragus 28 (50.9%), free ear lobe 28 (50.9%) and shape of the margin of helix were round 29 (52.7%). The female participants had maximum round shape of tragus 37 (82.2%), medium shape of anti-tragus 22 (48.8%), attached ear lobe 27 (60%), and round shape of margin of helix 25 (55.56%). CONCLUSIONS: The morphology of the external ear varies with each individual. However, it shows it couldn't differentiate their nationalities and gender.