Twins conjoined at the head are separated in 25-hour surgery at St. Louis hospital

September 18, 2026 / 12:32 PM EDT / CBS News

A pair of 2-year-old conjoined twins are seeing each other face to face for the first time after being successfully separated during a complex medical procedure at a St. Louis children's hospital.

The girls, Hiyab and Wuhbto, were born in Ethiopia with an extremely rare condition called craniopagus, where they were joined at the head facing in opposite directions. This occurs in less than 6% of all conjoined twins cases, according to the National Library of Medicine — only about once in every 2.5 million live births.

For nearly two years, the girls could hear each other's voices but could not see each other's faces. Leaving them conjoined posed significant risks to their long-term health, SSM Health Cardinal Glennon Children's Hospital said in a news release.

The twins traveled from Ethiopia to Missouri in 2025. At the hospital, a team of nearly 30 medical specialists spent almost a year planning a complicated, high-stakes operation to separate them.

The girls' parents were not able to get visas to travel from Ethiopia, so they remained in their home country and the girls traveled with a guardian. The hospital said the efforts were…

Original source: https://www.cbsnews.com/healthwatch/