A method for determining whether a fingerprint consists or not of human living tissue, the fingerprint being in direct physical contact with a contact surface of a fingerprint sensor (110; 210) including, being superimposed under the contact surface, a matrix optical sensor (112; 212), and lighting means (111; 211) formed by a plurality of lighting devices (1110; 2110) parallel to each other, each lighting device providing lighting in light strips, comprising the following steps of: - illuminating the fingerprint by the lighting means, the lighting devices (1110; 2110; 1110A, 1110B) forming together, on the contact surface, at least one uniform lighting pattern along an axis which extends from one side to the other of a detection surface of the matrix optical sensor, and acquiring an image (I 1, I 2, I 3) by the matrix optical sensor, these steps being implemented at least once, and at each step of illuminating the fingerprint, the lighting means (111; 211) form together at least one lighting pattern which is comprised of one or more light strips extending from one side to the other of said detection surface and which is formed by the lighting devices among which at least one is switched on and at least one is switched off; - in each image acquired, selecting pixels corresponding to the valleys of the fingerprint, or selecting pixels corresponding to the peaks of the fingerprint; - from the pixels selected, retrieving an optical characteristic defining the response to the at least one illumination, of the constituent material of the fingerprint, and using this optical characteristic to determine values of at least two characteristic optical coefficients of the fingerprint ( μ A, μ S ') comprising an absorption coefficient ( μ A) and a reduced diffusion coefficient ( μ s '); and - comparing said values and reference data (161; 661), to distinguish values associated with a fingerprint consisting of human living tissue, and values associated with a fingerprint which does not consist of human living tissue. - illuminating the fingerprint by the lighting means, the lighting devices (1110; 2110; 1110A, 1110B) forming together, on the contact surface, at least one uniform lighting pattern along an axis which extends from one side to the other of a detection surface of the matrix optical sensor, and acquiring an image (I 1, I 2, I 3) by the matrix optical sensor, these steps being implemented at least once, and at each step of illuminating the fingerprint, the lighting means (111; 211) form together at least one lighting pattern which is comprised of one or more light strips extending from one side to the other of said detection surface and which is formed by the lighting devices among which at least one is switched on and at least one is switched off; - in each image acquired, selecting pixels corresponding to the valleys of the fingerprint, or selecting pixels corresponding to the peaks of the fingerprint; - from the pixels selected, retrieving an optical characteristic defining the response to the at least one illumination, of the constituent material of the fingerprint, and using this optical characteristic to determine values of at least two characteristic optical coefficients of the fingerprint ( μ A, μ S ') comprising an absorption coefficient ( μ A) and a reduced diffusion coefficient ( μ s '); and - comparing said values and reference data (161; 661), to distinguish values associated with a fingerprint consisting of human living tissue, and values associated with a fingerprint which does not consist of human living tissue.