Doctors who saved a baby born with three legs, two penises and no anus have said he will live a ‘normal life’ after surgery.
The male baby, born in Moscow, Russia, seemingly developed two sets of genitals and an extra leg – located between his two other legs – while in the womb.
Doctors believe the extra appendages came from a twin which did not fully develop in utero.
According to reports, the third leg was spotted by medics during a routine scan on the mother, who lives in a provincial Russian region, during pregnancy.
The mother reportedly declined an abortion, and the baby was delivered via a natural birth.
The child was born in July 2018. And due to the baby lacking an anus, urgent surgery was performed to allow him to defecate safely.
Just a month later, the middle leg was surgically removed at Holy Vladimir Children’s hospital in Moscow, by Professor Yury Sokolov and Dr Evgenia Kartseva, two of Russia’s top paediatric surgeons.
Earlier this year, in February, urologists in Russia performed another surgery to remove the child’s additional genitals and second set of urinary organs. A further surgery was then carried out to position the child’s anus in the correct location.
A spokesperson for the Moscow health department said:
Most likely, at the beginning these were twins. The middle leg had two heels. These had to be two boys, but [in the womb] it turned into just one baby.
The boy is 14 months old now. He is walking and looking around at the world. He is curious.
Earlier this month, a baby who was born with large areas of his skin missing underwent pioneering surgery to have skin transplanted on to his body, meaning he can now be hugged by his mum.
The skin used in the transplant was grown inside a Boston lab, which specialises in providing for burns victims. According to ABC News, technicians used a biopsy of the baby’s skin to grow more of it.
The baby’s new skin meant his mother could finally touch and hug him for the first time, as well as the newborn being able to wear clothes, come off pain medication and breathe on his own.
UNILAD has contacted the Moscow health department for further information.
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Charlie Cocksedge is a journalist and sub-editor at UNILAD. He graduated from the University of Manchester with an MA in Creative Writing, where he learnt how to write in the third person, before getting his NCTJ. His work has also appeared in such places as The Guardian, PN Review and the bin.