Conjoined twins 'bounce back' after surgical separation

Two-year-old twin boys from the Philippines whose conjoined heads were surgically separated are beginning to thrive in their newly independent lives, one of their surgeons says.

Clarence and Carl Aguirre were separated last week in a 17-hour operation, and doctors are seeing signs of recovery much earlier than expected, said David Staffenberg, a plastic surgeon at the Children's Hospital at Montefiore Medical Centre, New York.

"They are making a very rapid recovery," he said. "They have bounced back like off a slingshot."