And back in November there was Lakshmi Tatma, the 4-legged, 4-armed girl.
These seem to be more like conjoined twin situations, but isn't that just an extreme end of the continuum, the other end of which contains teratomas? Let's talk about teratomas. Those are the things that result when an embryo starts growing within its twin but then dies, causing the remaining twin to later have a tumor with hair, teeth, nails, bones, and sometimes even hands or eyeballs. And they can keep growing so that people don't really notice them until adulthood. It's all so gross and fascinating. Bodies are crazy. I love this stuff. If you have teratoma stories, pass them this way.
14 comments:
SO weird that there were zero comments on your teratoma post??? people seem to ALWAYS have a solid teratoma story ...
I think it's cute. It's like a walnut baby.
that makes me want to vomit and cry all at once.
There's an interesting book out right now called "Mutants" that gives good insight into how conjoined twins and teratomas occur. It might not even be an absorbed twin--it can just spontaneously HAPPEN that you end up with a ball of cells with hair in the center somewhere in your body, if growth cells lose their way...
One interesting example in the book was a boy born with all sorts of teeth in his brain. Ouch.
my brother had a teratoma tumor when he was born too, it almost burst when he was six so the doctors took it out. it grew to be 3 pounds with hair, a mouth with teeth, and a heart beat. it looked like a giant ball of fuzzy socks.
Hi* I´m a portuguese medicine student, and I was searching about this subject and I found this post. I'm just writing to say teratomas are not as u say, they can just happen in adulthood without being "a result when an embryo starts growing within its twin but then dies". What u say is just a superficial and imaginary way of seeing it. What really happens is some kind of genetic desregulation of specific genes that codify specific proteins; if that happens is gonna have another tissue growing up in a place where it isn't supose to and that is what is called a teratoma tumor (mostly benefic).
hi. yep, as the portugese student said, teratomas are not as u said. they actually come about due to the mutation of the germ cell layer, the layer of cells (adult stem cells) which can develop into more or less anything, including teeth and hair and even complex structures like limbs. thats why they are usually found in (but not limited to)overies and testes.
I'm a medstudent too and i found this while studying...
people don't believe everything you read on crappy blogs like this, please and thanks for giving the medical explanation =)
By the way, you can also find nervous tissue!
Hey now hey now. This isn't The New England Journal of Medicine's website. I don't think anyone's purporting to be an oncologist here. Ease up and enjoy this blog for its intended purpose. Thanks <3
I totally agree with Robbybox! It's not as if you wrote that people with teratomas are posessed by Satan and deserve to be burnt at the stake. Lighten up.
hi guys and girls,
just letting you know that i had a teratoma the size of a large orange in my ovary earlier this year and it was a really painful experience ( AND WHEN I SAY PAINFUL, I MEAN PAINFUL). I now have a large scar stretching across my stomach.
I was born with a teratoma and yes they are gross. I was born with it in my throat/neck and i couldnt breathe so they did emergency surg, and i had to get a trach in my throat. I still have a lot of issues with swallowing and have thyroid prob now. They can be mild to serious, but i can tell you from the pics they arent pretty. Thanks just wanted to share...
When I was 30 they found my teratoma tumor and yes it was very painful. It was pretty large and I had to have a total hysterectomy. I had nightmares for a while until if found out what that was. After explaining to my mother what it was she said the Dr's thought I was a twin because they heard two heartbeats before I was born.
I just had a tumor the size of a watermelon removed 4months ago along with my overy. They found out it was an immature teratoma and that I needed kemotherapy. I finally finished with the kimo two weeks ago and thank God I'm totally healthy :)
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