Siamese twins are born in proportion 1: 200 000. They have to make all their decisions together, from what they will wear or eat, to the subject of study and the workplace.
Every activity is a compromise, and for some it is both togetherness and unexpected enjoyment. In this article, I present the answers to the most common questions about the unusual life of Siamese twins.
Although the medical community has progressed when it comes to childbirth, surgery, and laboratory research, their knowledge of Siamese twins is limited, especially when it comes to their development, mainly because such cases are rare. Between 40 and 60 percent of Siamese twins die at birth, while those who come into the world alive usually die within a day. They are all identical, always of the same sex, although female Siamese twins are more common than male.
In utero, twins separate into two separate individuals eight or twelve days after conception. In Siamese twin embryos, this process of separation does not take place to the end or when they separate, they reunite during development in the abdomen.
Do Siamese twins share the same thoughts?
Most often Siamese twins have separate thought streams, although they end each other’s sentences. However, in cases where they are connected by heads and share the same brain, they also share the same thought activities. It happens once in 2.5 million times.
Tatiana and Krista Hogan were born with their heads joined in 2006 and shared the same mental processes. In them, the thalamus is connected to the sense of touch, so Krista can feel the stimuli on Tatjana's leg. When Krista wrote, Tatjana knew what the next word would be. They are aware that they share the same brain activities and thoughts and see the world through the eyes of the other.
However, they are not one person. For example, Tatiana hates ketchup, and Krista eats it.
Sex and love life
Despite the curiosity of the audience, studies on the sexual life of Siamese twins are understandably sensitive, because the idea of intimacy with the brother / sister next to them seems discouraging.
Throughout history, however, there have been cases where Siamese twins have had a successful love life. The most famous is the case of Cheng and Eng Bunker, known as the "original Siamese twins".
After being brought to the United States at the age of seventeen and treated as slaves by a man who showed them around in a circus, they gained independence at the age of twenty-one and moved to North Carolina.
They soon married sisters and built two separate houses - one for each woman. One twin would take control of a part of the body and allow the brother to live with his wife for three days, then the other would do the same.
They had a total of twenty-one children and had a fulfilling life with their wives.
What happens when one twin dies?
As in the case of Cheng and Eng, when one of the Siamese twins dies, it usually leads to the death of the other twin as well.
If the heart of one twin stops, then the living twin will bleed, which can be saved only by surgery, but only at the very moment of death. That means they would already have to be in the hospital. Since the separation operation lasts ten hours, the question is how much and controlled conditions could save the surviving twin.
The Siamese twins with the longest life expectancy so far died on July 4, 2020, at the age of 69.
Ronnie and Donnie Gelion from the US state of Ohio were born on October 28, 1951, with a fused abdomen.
In 2014, shortly before their 63rd birthday, the brothers became the longest-lived Siamese twins.
Authorities said they died a natural death.
Even as children, they began to appear at carnivals and circuses as an attraction.
Their brother Jim said that the family lived on their income for years.
A documentary about the Gelion brothers was also made and broadcast in 2010.
This year, the operation to separate the Siamese twins in Italy succeeded
An operation was successfully performed in the Italian hospital "Bambino Gesu", which separated two sisters, Siamese twins, who were connected by the skull, neck, and had the largest part of the venous system together, reports the Ansa agency.
Such an operation was performed for the first time in Italy, and it was performed three times in the world. The sisters were definitely separated on June 29.
The operation was performed by a team of 30 specialists and technical medical staff.
In order to better plan and perform a very complicated and dangerous operation, the doctors made a 3D copy of the skull.
The most difficult part of the operation was the separation of the blood vessels of the head, which were connected in several places.
The twins are originally from the Central African Republic, from where the director of the clinic, Mariela Enoch, brought them to Rome two years ago, immediately after birth.
According to a statement from the hospital, the girls, although they have a lot in common, but they are very different as personalities.
By the way, before the operation in which they were separated so that they could see each other, they used a mirror system.
Its really amazing. This twins prove that our Creator can do anything.