What Happens When Conjoined Twins Must Be Separated

Mid-June 2020, Irvina and Profina, twins conjoined at the top of the head, were separated after an 18-hour surgery involving over 30 medical professionals in a Vatican City hospital.

This was the first time in history that a set of conjoined twins connected by a shared skull have been successfully and safely separated.

Today, the girls are recovering well and just celebrated their second birthday.

But this isn't the case for all sets of conjoined twins.

In many cases, separation means death for one or both of the twins in question.

So, what do we do when saving one means killing the other? Conjoined twins were originally called Siamese twins, but that term has been generally phased out of the lexicon.

The term referred to conjoined twin brothers Chang and Ang Bunker, born in Siam in 1811 and touted across the world as circus freaks on the behest of British entrepreneur Robert Hunter in 1829.

After their tour, the twins moved to Carolina, married a pair of sisters, and proceeded to have 22 children between them.

The causes behind the information of even regular twins have not been entirely elucidated as of yet.

However, we do know that women who have children later, that are over the age of 30 and 40, and women who have had multiple pregnancies prior, have a higher likelihood of producing twins.

In addition to that, African women have the highest incidence of twins, while Asian women have the lowest, but the reasons behind this pattern are unknown at this time.

The likelihood of conjoined twins occurs about once in every 50,000 to 60,000 births, and fascinatingly enough, 70% of conjoined twins are female.

One theory posits that females develop quicker than males in utero, which makes them hardier.

In fact, Nancy Segal, PhD, in her paper Twin Types, More Than Just Two, claims that a newborn female has the physical maturity of a 4-6 week old male.

If we consider that all mammals begin female in the womb, and maleness only develops after the second month of gestation, then this makes some sense.

A female embryo would continue growing on course while a male embryo would have to spend time developing… maleness.

So, therefore, females would be slightly more developed at birth.

Conjoined twins are, as the name suggests, twins that are joined at birth in one way or another.

As fraternal twins come from two different fertilized eggs and two entirely separate embryos to start with, they cannot become conjoined.

Conjoined twins are, essentially, just identical twins that haven't entirely separated before they begin growing in earnest, developing more complicated organs and such without fully becoming two distinct entities.

This can lead to any number of health issues both in utero and after birth.

Unfortunately, the majority of conjoined twins are stillborn or die shortly after birth.

Conjoined twins often share vital organs, leading to unsupportable strain on any number of systems within their shared bodies.

A twin that is dependent on the other is usually called an unequal or asymmetric twin.

The health problems that conjoined twins might encounter really depends on the type and nature of their joining.

Mid-June 2020, Irvina and Profina, twins conjoined at the top of the head, were separated after an 18-hour surgery involving over 30 medical professionals in a Vatican City hospital.

This was the first time in history that a set of conjoined twins connected by a shared skull have been successfully and safely separated.

Today, the girls are recovering well and just celebrated their second birthday.

But this isn't the case for all sets of conjoined twins.

In many cases, separation means death for one or both of the twins in question.

So, what do we do when saving one means killing the other? Conjoined twins were originally called Siamese twins, but that term has been generally phased out of the lexicon.

The term referred to conjoined twin brothers Chang and Ang Bunker, born in Siam in 1811 and touted across the world as circus freaks on the behest of British entrepreneur Robert Hunter in 1829.

After their tour, the twins moved to Carolina, married a pair of sisters, and proceeded to have 22 children between them.

The causes behind the information of even regular twins have not been entirely elucidated as of yet.

However, we do know that women who have children later, that are over the age of 30 and 40, and women who have had multiple pregnancies prior, have a higher likelihood of producing twins.

In addition to that, African women have the highest incidence of twins, while Asian women have the lowest, but the reasons behind this pattern are unknown at this time.

The likelihood of conjoined twins occurs about once in every 50,000 to 60,000 births, and fascinatingly enough, 70% of conjoined twins are female.

One theory posits that females develop quicker than males in utero, which makes them hardier.

In fact, Nancy Segal, PhD, in her paper Twin Types, More Than Just Two, claims that a newborn female has the physical maturity of a 4-6 week old male.

If we consider that all mammals begin female in the womb, and maleness only develops after the second month of gestation, then this makes some sense.

A female embryo would continue growing on course while a male embryo would have to spend time developing… maleness.

So, therefore, females would be slightly more developed at birth.

Conjoined twins are, as the name suggests, twins that are joined at birth in one way or another.

As fraternal twins come from two different fertilized eggs and two entirely separate embryos to start with, they cannot become conjoined.

Conjoined twins are, essentially, just identical twins that haven't entirely separated before they begin growing in earnest, developing more complicated organs and such without fully becoming two distinct entities.

This can lead to any number of health issues both in utero and after birth.

Unfortunately, the majority of conjoined twins are stillborn or die shortly after birth.

Conjoined twins often share vital organs, leading to unsupportable strain on any number of systems within their shared bodies.

A twin that is dependent on the other is usually called an unequal or asymmetric twin.

The health problems that conjoined twins might encounter really depends on the type and nature of their joining.