From creation to birth a Brobdingnagian array of complex and frail biological appendage have to be completed before a miniature ball of pluripotent cells can become a human child , so it ’s not so surprising that sometimes these processes can go a piffling askew . A late case study publish inBMJ Case Reportsdescribes how one baby girl was born with a off-the-wall but on the face of it harmless second mouth . The unusual twin feature was later removed and at six months the girl was find to be barren from any significant side force from the operating theater .
The duplication offacial structuresor sometimes even theentire headis calleddiprosopusand is a very uncommon condition . There have only been around 35 case on human disk since 1900 , though there was a recent case involving akitten born with two faces . In humans it appear to occur more often in female , though exactly why is unclear , and also often center around the mouth .
In this instance , Dr. first became cognisant that something was n’t quite good with the development of the sister ’s face during a scan in its third trimesters . They detect a mass to the right hand of the baby ’s mouth but were unable to key precisely what it was using ultrasonography . More rough-cut explanations would ’ve been a cyst , stringy dysplasia , or teratoma , which is whenone matching absorb anotherduring development . Once the baby was born all became clear .
" duplicate of craniofacial structures typically occurs as part of a syndrome and is often colligate with crack lip and cleft palate , Klippel - Feil syndrome and Pierre Robin sequence , " the writer of the case bailiwick story . " Our patient ’s craniofacial duplication is a rare causa that presented as an isolated unusual person , with no colligate syndrome or freakishness . "
The 2nd sassing , which showed up as a mass on the ultrasonography , was found to have its own lip , bodily cavity , teeth , and even a small spit that proceed synchronously with the tongue in her main back talk as she feed ( images can beseen herefor the curious ) . It was separate from the main mouth and as luck would have it did n’t bear on the baby ’s ability to exhaust or breathe . In fact , apart from the skin surrounding the 2nd mouthpiece occasionally get a little raw , it did n’t appear to cause any significant problem .
The team of Doctor was able-bodied to safely and successfully remove the second mouthpiece when the baby was six calendar month sure-enough , removing muscle , bone , mucous membrane , and esophageal tissue . They even found salivary glands and six unerupted tooth picture the extra growth , while small , really did contain all the features we witness in our mouths . Apart from swell and a minor nerve defect in the bottom sass the child ’s side was largely unaffected by the ordeal , and the sister did n’t require any further treatment .
One potential computer error in development that can lead to diprosopus is a duplicate of a structure promise the pharyngeal arch during the quaternary week of an embryo ’s development . This arch has the mental ability to diversify into tooth , the tongue , and other oral features . However , the doctors in this shell account do n’t think this explanation applies to the child in interrogative as the features of the shaver ’s “ main ” mouth were all found to be normal . As such , the babe girl with two mouths stay a medical mystery , but the tarradiddle is an awing presentment of how complex the process of growing a human is and how far medication has come in being capable to successfully discipline certain developmental sideslip - ups .
