Diprosopus

Diprosopus (Greek: διπρόσωπος, "two-faced", from δι-, di-, "two" and πρόσωπον, prósopon [neuter], "face", "person"; with Latin ending), also known as craniofacial duplication (cranio- from Greek κρανίον, "skull", the other parts Latin), is an extremely rare congenital disorder whereby parts (accessories) or all of the face are duplicated on the head.

[1][2][3][4][5][6] Although classically considered conjoined twinning (which it resembles), diprosopus is not normally due to the fusion or incomplete separation of two embryos.

)[10][11] SHH and its corresponding genes have been found to play an important role in signaling craniofacial patterning during embryonic development.

Diprosopus often occurs in combination with other congenital disorders, particularly anencephaly, neural tube defect and cardiac malformations.

Known instances of humans with diprosopus surviving for longer than minutes to hours past birth are very rare; only a few are recorded.

Because they were born with a milder, partial form of diprosopus, both infants were considered candidates for surgical correction of their abnormal facial features.

Her case is mentioned in Nicolas-François and Geneviève Regnault's Les écarts de la nature, published that year.

Sushma and Vinod Singh declined an offer from local doctors to evaluate their daughter through CT or MRI scanning.

Without diagnostic imaging, it was not possible to know the full extent to which the child's condition might have affected her brain and other vital structures in her head and neck.

A local doctor told reporters that the baby should be considered a healthy child who currently was living a normal life, a previously unknown occurrence among sufferers of the disorder.

A poor diet of bottle-fed sugar solution and diluted milk, allowed to drip down her throat, as she could not suck properly due to her cleft palate, weakened her condition, and vomiting and infection ensued.

The children were born six weeks prematurely and appeared to be doing well, able to breathe unaided several days after their birth, and they were observed to sleep and cry at different times.

[26] In July 2006, a six-year-old male Janus cat called "Frank and Louie" from Millbury, Massachusetts, USA, received publicity.