The people of her rural Indian village did not see this as a deformity. They believed that she was a ‘gift from God’, christened her ‘Lakshmi‘ after the four-armed Hindu Goddess of wealth, and queued outside the house to be blessed by the girl.

But the actual cause of the extra limbs was that the girl had a twin who hadn’t fully developed and instead became attached to Lakshmi’s body at the pelvis.

Lakshmi made headlines around the world last month when a team of surgeons spent 27 hours removing the extra limbs, separating her spinal cord and kidney from the twin, re-orientating the bladder and genital systems, and then closing up the pelvic girdle.

It was an amazing story with a heartwarming ending…

Now, just three months after the surgery, she is taking her first steps. According to Sharan Patil, chief orthopedic surgeon and chairman of Sparsh Hospital in Bangalore where the surgery was performed, Lakshmi is ‘… “now moving with a walker, holding onto objects — a table, a chair — and moving a little bit…”

Now you can watch Lakshmi’s journey on National Geographic Channel this coming Sunday (22 June) at 9pm Pacific.

If, like me, you can’t get the National Geographic Channel you can still get learn more about Lakshmi by visiting National Geographic online.

View the picture gallery, read a Q&A with Doctor Sharan Patil (lead surgeon), and see a preview of the hour long episode at the National Geographic website.

Post from: Healthbolt

Now let’s be clear that we are in no way, no how poking any kind of fun at these poor people. But it’s just amazing to see the different ways the body can betray itself, is it not? Of course it is.

So next up in our Weird Deformity Breakdown is Jingle Luis, a 15-year-old girl from the Philippines who was born with feet clubbed so badly they twist backwards and upside down (see a photo slideshow at MSN.com)

Today, Jingle had surgery to begin correction on her feet at Montefiore Medical Center in the Bronx. And while clubfoot occurs in about one in 1,000 births, treatment usually begins before the condition gets anywhere near as far as Jingle’s.

The problem? Jingle also suffers from spina bifida (a birth defect that involves the incomplete development of the spinal cord or its coverings), leading her early physicians to believe she may not live long; therefore no treatment for her clubbed feet was ever given.

As for now, Jingle’s US surgeon says, “It’s like putting together an Erector Set,” and anticipates it taking a month to rotate the feet a few degrees at a time. And when all is said and done, what does Jingle hope to do? Wear high heels, of course. Good girl!

We sure wish Jingle all the best, but we also wonder:

What is the strangest deformity you’ve ever seen or heard of? Any idea how that patient is doing now? We’d love to hear from you and maybe even see what we can dig up on the deformities you share. Leave us a comment and let us know.

Post from: Healthbolt