Siamese girls joined from behind see their faces for the first time 0:51
(CNN) -
The one-year-old Israeli twins who were born attached at the head were separated after an unusual and complicated operation.
The sisters, whose names have not been released, underwent a 12-hour operation at Soroka Medical Center in Beersheba, Israel, last week.
Siamese twins separated in 50-hour surgery
The intervention was extremely rare, the hospital said in a statement Sunday, and it was done after months of preparation.
After the operation, the twins can see face to face for the first time since they were born in August of last year.
"This is a rare and complex operation performed only about 20 times in the world, and for the first time in Israel," Mickey Gideon, director of pediatric neurosurgery at Soroka Medical Center, said in a statement.
Gideon said that the success of the operation reinforced "the reason for the mission that made us become doctors."
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But the doctor warned that "the next few days will be critical in the recovery process of the twins."
Dozens of employees treated the twins and prepared them for the operation, according to the hospital.
Two twins separated by 50 years reunited after watching a CNN movie
The long road to the operation itself began several months ago, when skin and tissue expanders were inserted under the girls' scalps, in order to tighten the skin, allowing surgeons to close the scalp after separation.
The operation was planned with 3D models and virtual reality technology, and the process, which lasted several months, involved a total of 50 hospital employees.
Conjoined or conjoined twins are born once every 200,000 live births, according to the University of Minnesota.
They are always identical and most are women.
It is especially rare that they are joined at the head.
Last year twins who also had this type of union separated in a Vatican hospital.
Siamese twins surgery