Head-conjoined twins separated successfully

Twins Carl and Clarence Aguirre saw each other face to face for the first time yesterday in a much anticipated reunion that was, well, not exactly a Hollywood moment.

"Clarence did everything but look at his brother and yawn," said Dr. David Staffenberg, the co-leader of the surgical team at Montefiore Medical Center in the Bronx, where the formerly conjoined twins were separated in a 17-hour operation last week.

The 2-year-old Filipino brothers, who were joined at the head, have made such a rapid recovery that they were both taken off sedation and their ventilators by yesterday morning.

The boys had looked at each other only in mirrors. Their mother, Arlene Aguirre, and their medical team had eagerly awaited, and imagined, the time when the brothers finally would see each other.

With Carl breathing nicely on his own yesterday morning, the moment had come, reports Thejournalnews.com

According to Nydailynews.com the duo blinked and stared, but initially were more interested in their mother's voice, and the TV set, than each other.

"Carl, where's your brother? Clarence, where's your brother?" prompted their mom Arlene.

Then the boys' plastic surgeon, Dr. David Staffenberg, got into the act. "Clarence, look at your brother," he said.

But Clarence wanted no part of it. "He never listens," Staffenberg quipped.

After their beds were moved to make it easier for a glimpse, Clarence did appear to look at a groggy Carl.

The siblings had seen each other only in mirrors and photographs before the landmark 17-hour surgery that separated them last week.

Aguirre brought her boys to the U.S. last year for a series of operations that culminated in the final separation surgery. Doctors are marveling at the brothers' recovery.