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Baby Born With Two Faces

By CBS News / WKRG Staff

SEE THE VIDEO. A baby in northern India has been born with craniofacial duplication. She has a single head, but two faces. Baby Born With Two Faces

Published: Wed, April 09, 2008 - 11:30 am Last Updated: Wed, April 09, 2008 - 2:45 pm

A baby with two faces was born in a northern Indian village, where she is doing well and is being worshipped as the reincarnation of a Hindu goddess, her father said Tuesday. The baby, Lali, apparently has an extremely rare condition known as craniofacial duplication, where a single head has two faces.
All of Lali's facial features are duplicated except for her ears she has two. Otherwise, she has two noses, two pairs of lips and two pairs of eyes.
Her father Vinod Singh, a 23-year-old farm worker said his child was fine "like any other child". Lali has caused a sensation in the dusty village of Saini Sunpura, 40 kilometers (25 miles) east of New Delhi. When she left the hospital, eight hours after a normal delivery on March 11, villagers swarmed to catch a glimpse. Hospital officials said Lali could use both mouths and she opened and shut all four eyes at the same time. Rural India is deeply superstitious and the little girl is being hailed as a return of the Hindu goddess of valor, Durga, a fiery deity traditionally depicted with three eyes and many arms.
Up to 100 people have been visiting Lali at her home every day to touch her feet out of respect, offer money and receive blessings, Singh told The Associated Press. "She is the reincarnation of a goddess," said Vidyawati, a visitor who came to see Lali. Others called the event a miracle. Village chief Daulat Ram said he planned to build a temple to Durga in the village and ask the government for money to help with Lali's care. Lali's condition is often linked to serious health complications, but doctors said she was doing well. Lali's parents were married in February 2007. Lali is their first child. Singh said he took his daughter to a hospital in New Delhi where doctors suggested a CT (computerized tomography) scan to determine whether her internal organs were normal, but Singh said he felt it was unnecessary.