Babies born with twins, their faces are not always identical, this is the reason

Coming home from an ultrasound examination with the shocking news that you are pregnant with twins must be happy, not playing. However, when your baby is born and grows up, it turns out that their faces do not look alike at all, there are even different skin colors. In fact, the two babies were born twins. How come?

The physical similarity of twins depends on the fertilization process in the womb

There are 2 types of twins, namely dizygotic twins and monozygotic twins.

Dizygotic twins, the most common (as much as 80%), occur when in the same monthly cycle 2 eggs are fertilized by 2 different sperm cells. Usually in 1 menstrual cycle it only produces 1 egg, but on several occasions it is possible that in 1 menstrual cycle it will produce 2 eggs, each of which is fertilized by sperm.

Meanwhile, monozygous twins or identical twins (20%) occur when 1 egg (ovum) fertilized by 1 sperm cell becomes a blastocyst which cleaves after fertilization. Because they come from the same 1 blastocyst, monozygous twins are genetically identical twins.

What factors affect pregnant women with twins?

There are many factors that affect multiple pregnancies, including:

Black race is the race with the most twins, then the Caucasian race and the rarest race is the mongol.
Heredity on the part of the woman plays a role in increasing the chances of twins.
Women aged 30-35 years are more likely than those who are younger or older.
The incidence of twins has increased since the 5th pregnancy
Use of drugs to increase fertility increases the chance of twins 20-40%

How can a baby be born with twins but not identical and even different skin colors?

As explained above, non-identical twins are dizygotic twins. There are 2 pairs of egg cells and sperm cells that undergo fertilization respectively so that when they develop and grow, they will become 2 different babies. Whereas in monozygotes originating from 1 pair of egg cells and sperm cells, there is division or duplication into 2 pairs to become identical twins.

Dizygotic twins actually open up the possibility that the baby could have a very contrasting skin color if the parents are of different races. These are known as biracial twins.. biracial twins are dizygotic twins who come from parents or other racial partners. According to BBC Health, a couple of different races who are pregnant with twins, will have a 1: 500 chance of having different racial twins.

What about conjoined twins?

Babies born with conjoined twins or conjoined twins are monozygous twins who undergo cleavage at the age of more than 2 weeks, where if it occurs at that age, the division is not perfect. The partial dividing blastocyst will continue to develop into conjoined twins.