Separated twins come face-to-face

The brothers see each other face-to-face for the first time

Formerly conjoined twins Mohamed and Ahmed Ibrahim have seen each other face-to-face for the first time.

Mohamed was wheeled into his brother Ahmed's room at the Children's Medical Center, Dallas, twice on Friday.

Doctors said the two-year-olds smiled, clasped each other's hand and Ahmed cried briefly when Mohamed was being taken back to his room.

The Egyptian twins underwent a 36-hour operation two weeks ago to be separated from the crown of their heads.

The visits came as Ahmed's condition improved from "critical" to "serious" and he began physiotherapy.

Mohamed's condition is also described as "serious".

Alert

Head of critical care, Dr James Thomas, said Ahmed was much more alert on Mohamed's afternoon visit than he had been in the morning encounter.

"Both boys smiled at each other and clasped each other's left hand," said Dr Thomas.

"Their parents and older brother played with the twins and posed for their first photographs since the procedure.

"When Mohamed was placed back in his red wagon, Ahmed began to cry, though he was calmed quickly by his mom."

Dr Thomas said the boys slept after the visit. Another meeting is planned for Saturday afternoon.

Good progress

The boys have been recovering in separate rooms on beds designed to rotate their bodies so that they do not develop bed sores.

They are said to be making good progress. Both are off antibiotics and are tolerating feeds through a tube.

The twins were joined at the crown of their heads

Mohamed is making visible daily progress in his physiotherapy sessions, say doctors.

Ahmed started his physiotherapy sessions on Thursday and is said to be rapidly gaining strength.

However, it will take several weeks to determine if they have suffered brain damage from surgery, which involved separating their shared brain material and circulatory systems.

The boys were born in a town 500 kilometres (800 miles) south of Cairo in 2001.

Twins conjoined at the head account for about one of every 10 million births and about 2% of all conjoined births.