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Conjoined Twins

Conjoined twins are extremely rare, and that’s part of what made me curious about their lives and experiences. In researching Gemini, I delved into biographies, memoirs, and other accounts of living as a conjoined twin, as well as gleaning what I could from accounts of living with other rare anatomies. There was medical research, too, of course, but what interested me most was the experiences of real people.

The basics: Conjoined twins are identical twins with connected bodies. They develop from a single fertilized egg that doesn’t separate fully. According to a CNN report, about 200 pairs of conjoined twins are born alive each year, and only about half of those survive until their…

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Featured

 Separating conjoined twins is a stressful, high-risk operation. It's why I went into medicine

I’ve been involved in thousands of operations as an anaesthetist, but none like the one that started on a seemingly ordinary Monday morning back in February. I was part of the team at Great Ormond Street hospital that separated very rare craniopagus (joined at the head) conjoined twins.

Articles of Interest

‘They are together, they are equal’: the agonising choice facing father of conjoined twins

‘They are together, they are equal’: the agonising choice facing father of conjoined twins Separation surgery would save the life of one of the three-year-old girls but lead to the death of the other. Ibrahima Ndiaye tells how he came to his decision.

'Inseparable' Recounts The Unusual Lives Of Conjoined Twins Chang And Eng Bunker

Yunte Huang's new book chronicles the lives of the "original Siamese twins," who were brought to America in 1829 and forced to perform in a freak show. They later married and fathered 21 children.

Conjoined Twins: Reasons Behind Recent Successes

The ongoing news coverage of surgeries to separate conjoined twins belies a heartbreaking fact: "One in every 200 deliveries of identical twins are conjoined; only 35% of those survive their first day," according to the BBC. But if that figure is a constant, why have so many operations made news recently?

Could Conjoined Twins Share a Mind?

In any other set of twins, the natural conclusion about the two events — Krista’s drinking, Tatiana’s reaction — would be that they were coincidental: a gulp, a twinge, random simultaneous happenstance. But Krista and Tatiana are not like most other sets of twins. They are connected at their heads, where their skulls merge under a mass of shaggy brown bangs.

How Conjoined Twins Are Making Scientists Question the Concept of Self

In a new CBC documentary on their lives, Inseparable, director Judith Pyke invites us into the world of the sisters. The bond portrayed is more intimate, naturally, than nearly any sibling story, and yet its ramifications, its unspoken commentary on the nature of the self, is profound.

The Phantom Twin

It’s a story about the human side of so-called “freaks” and the bonds that such people form, as well as one girl’s attempts to overcome loss, learn independence, and find her place in the world. It’s a story whose tone is, at turns (and delightfully), both creepy and touching, and it’s drawn in Lisa’s distinctive, beautiful line.

The Sex Lives of Conjoined Twins

One thing we know for sure about the sexuality of conjoined twins: People who aren’t conjoined are fascinated by it. At least it seems that way, judging by the number of reporters calling me to ask about the sex lives of conjoined twins since the TLC reality show Abby and Brittany went on the air several weeks ago.

These 21-Year-Old Conjoined Twins Will Inspire You

I remember watching a documentary about Abby and Brittany Hensel a few years ago--they were young teenagers at the time, just learning how to drive. This post on Jezebel reminded me how amazing their story is...

These Conjoined Twins Probably Lived The Most Tragic Lives In Modern History

Conjoined twins Daisy and Violet Hilton were born in the early 1900s in England. Referred to as Siamese Twins, the Hilton sisters were connected at the hip and buttocks. At the time of their birth, it was feared separating them would cause one or both to die. If the Hilton conjoined twins were born in the 21st century, it's likely they could have been surgically separated; because unlike most conjoined twins, such as Abby and Brittany, Daisy and Violet only shared blood circulation and each had their own organs.

What Do We Know About Conjoined Twins?

How unusual are conjoined twins, and what do we know about their biology?

Who Were the Original Siamese Twins?

From the moment they were born until the day they died, just hours apart, Chang and Eng Bunker were separated from the rest of the world by the same four-inch band of cartilage that bound them inextricably to each other. Born in 1811 on a houseboat in Siam, now Thailand, connected at the sternum and with their livers fused, they would become history’s most famous conjoined siblings — the first Siamese twins.

Who Would You Want Your Conjoined Twin to Be?

It got me thinking about being a conjoined twin and what it might be like. Then I imagined being conjoined twins with Cassie and got massively overexcited and started sweating loads. So instead of festering in a puddle of my own perspiration, I went and asked some other people who their ideal conjoined twin would be instead.

Resources

11-month-old conjoined twin sisters separated after marathon surgery

Twins Ballenie and Bellanie Camacho may be only 11 months old but already they are true fighters. The baby girls, born conjoined at the lower back, were successfully separated on Jan. 17 in an almost 22-hour surgery at Maria Fareri Children's Hospital in Valhalla, New York.

StatPearls

The most commonly believed etiology of conjoined twinning is either partial fission or secondary fusion. Both of these processes can be used to explain the embryological and anatomical findings observed in conjoined twins. However, the fission and fusion theories do not unequivocally account for every possible conjunction and cannot be applied to the full spectrum of findings in conjoined twins.