An individual’s fingerprints remain the same throughout his or her entire life. Minor cuts or abrasions, and some skin diseases such as eczema or psoriasis, may cause temporary disturbances to the fingerprints, but upon healing the fingerprints will return to their original pattern. More serious injuries to the skin that damage the dermis might leave scars that change or disrupt the ridge pattern of the fingerprints, but examining the skin outside the area of damage will reveal the same fingerprint pattern.
Recent technological advances using optical scanners and solid-state readers use software to analyze the geometric pattern of fingerprints and compare it with those of registered, legitimate users of a network system.Less expensive models of these devices have false acceptance rates of less than 25 per million and false rejection rates of less than three percent.Possible applications include using fingerprints instead of passwords for computers, linking to individual bank accounts and automated teller machines, and for credit cards and Internet transactions.