This “tail” is strange but true.
Doctors were flabbergasted over the case of a baby girl who was born with an extremely rare 2-inch-long “true tail.” [Warning: graphic images]
“The presence of tails in humans is extremely infrequent,” authors wrote in the case report, which was published in the Journal of Pediatric Surgery.
The tot had been born via cesarean section at a rural hospital in northeastern Mexico. Upon first examination, doctors discovered the bizarro butt tassel, which measured around 5.7-centimeters long and was covered with hair. Accompanying pics show the odd appendage, which is cylindrical and tapered at the tip like partially rolled Play-Doh.
The baby reportedly cried when doctors pierced the appendage with a needle.
A subsequent X-ray revealed no evidence of anomalies or bone structures inside the tail, suggesting that the posterior protrusion was not a vestigial tail — an evolutionary remnant — like in most of the 195 rare cases documented in case studies from the US, England, France, Japan, Italy and Germany, according to the journal report.
Rather, it was a “true tail,” a benign appendage comprised of only tissue and fat, which is much rarer, with only 40 cases reported.
The protuberance’s presence was especially peculiar as the girl was born to “healthy parents in their late 20s” and didn’t have a prior history of radiation exposure or infections in utero, per the study.
Thankfully, aside from having a tail, the infant was completely healthy. Doctors confirmed that she had no heart or hearing problems, urinary tract malformations, cerebral anomalies or spinal malformations.
Medics re-assessed the patient two months later, whereupon they determined that her weight gain and growth were normal for her age. By that time, the baby’s posterior protrusion had grown 0.8 cm in length.
After deeming the tail free of skin lesions, surgeons decided to snip it and reconstruct the region via Limberg plasty — a procedure that transplants tissue from the patient’s own buttocks, as seen in graphic pics.
Fortunately, the operation went off without a hitch, and the patient was discharged from the hospital to live life unburdened by a tail.
In an even more extreme case in 2021, a Brazilian baby was born with a “true tail” with a ball on the end like a meaty medieval mace.