The Israeli twin girls were born with their heads together. The rare phenomenon, called Siamese twins, is a congenital malformation in which the bodies of two twins are connected.
Demanding operation
The girls have never seen each other before. Now they are separated thanks to an operation, and for the first time able to look each other in the eyes. The moment was immortalized by the news agency Reuters.
Twin sisters pregnant with twin brothers
The operation is a very demanding procedure and has only been performed 20 times before, worldwide. This is the first time the operation has been carried out in Israel, writes CNN.
BEERSHEBA: For the first time, an operation aimed at separating Siamese twins has been carried out in Israel and the city of Beersheba. Photo: Shutterstock / NTB
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The operation, which was performed on September 5 at Soroka Medical Center in the city of Beersheba, took 12 hours and required months of preparation.
Siamese twins occur once every 50 to 60,000 births. About 70 percent of the twins are girls, and most are stillborn. The most common is that the twins are connected in the chest and abdomen region, while only two percent are tied together at the head, according to Childrens Hospital of Philadelphia.
Completely normal
A statement from the hospital informs that the operation involved reconstruction of the skull and skin transplantation for both girls. It writes Reuters.
The one-year-old girls must be in good condition after the operation, according to health personnel.
– They breathe and eat on their own, both, says Eldad Silberstein, head of the department of plastic surgery.
The children, who were born in August 2020, are expected to live a completely normal life.
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