Vanishing Twin Syndrome: Woman Stunned to Find Nails, Hair, Teeth in Lump

A woman who spent years tolerating two excruciatingly painful lumps on her back got the shock of her life when she finally learned the truth about what was inside one— her vanished "twin."

Megan Crikelair, from Pennsylvania, lived with a mass in her tailbone, and another in her lower back, and first remembers becoming aware of them when she was a child.

The now 35-year-old, from Pennsylvania, went on to become a radiology nurse, and it was only when she entered the medical field did she learn the truth about her own condition.

Crikelair discovered she'd suffered from "vanishing twin syndrome," after medics had identified "one fingernail, hair and four teeth" inside one of the growths on her back.

"I've heard of vanishing twin syndrome but it's super rare for the twin to not be completely absorbed into the mother or remaining twin," Crikelair told Newsweek.

"Learning the truth about the dermoid cyst, the lump on my back, weirded me out at first because I was in nursing school at the time, but the longer I've been a nurse, the more I've come to realize that it's just something that happens to rogue DNA in our bodies."

A dermoid cyst, or teratoma, is an abnormal growth that contains skin, hair follicles and sebaceous glands which had derived from residual embryonic cells.

"I'm grateful that I didn't get a systemic infection from it which is where I was headed, and I'm glad that it wasn't malignant," she added.

What Is Vanishing Twin Syndrome?

Board-certified obstetrician and gynecologist Christine Greves told Newsweek that vanishing twin syndrome can happen because one of the twins miscarries. If it occurs early in the pregnancy, the mother may never have been aware she was carrying multiples.

"Vanishing twin syndrome occurs when a twin pregnancy becomes a singleton, pregnancy, spontaneously. Meaning that it appears that one of the twins vanishes ultimately because it miscarries and gets absorbed in the pregnancy," Greves, based in Orlando, Florida, continued.

"This can also occur if there are triplets and there is one less baby. It can be found when an ultrasound may have detected two fetuses and a follow-up ultrasound doesn't find both or all three babies, if they were originally triplets."

The gynecologist, who has more than 20 years of experience, advises anyone affected by vanishing twin syndrome to "recognize that it is something that couldn't be prevented."

A 2023 report, referenced in the National Library of Medicine, indicates that vanishing twin syndrome is estimated to occur in just over a third of twin pregnancies and in half of pregnancies that begin with at least three gestational sacs.

How Crikelair Discovered Her 'Twin'

Crikelair recounted first becoming aware of the "golf ball-sized" lump in her lower back, and a smaller one in her tailbone, when she was 11 years old. Both lumps were connected, she told Newsweek, but it wasn't until she was 17 that she had them investigated.

"It got to the point where I couldn't sit without incredible pain," she said. The catalyst for seeking medical advice was an accident in 2005.

"I slipped on a patch of ice and fell, landing directly on my tailbone and breaking it," the Lancaster-based mom explained. "After this time, the lump on my tailbone had started to swell and drain through my skin.

"The one in my back had gotten even more painful. My doctor referred me to a general surgeon to have it removed, thinking that it was a pilonidal cyst. Before surgery I had an ultrasound scan but no one discussed the results with me."

Pilonidal cysts are boil-like skin infections that are almost always found at the point between the crease of the buttocks and bottom of the spine.

Despite her curiosity and questioning at the time, Crikelair said she was never told what the menacing lumps contained. She went home and put the matter to rest after surgery to have both growths removed, relieved that whatever had been the cause wasn't cancerous.

But years later she became a student nurse and gained access to her confidential medical records, and curiosity got the better of her.

"Both the lumps were removed back in 2005, but I never was told anything about the lumps except that the surgery had gone well. Years later medical electronic records became a thing and I logged onto my patient portal.

"I found the pathology report from my surgery, and seeing that I am a nurse, I was so curious to see what it said. The lump in my back was a dermoid cyst with a fingernail, hair and four teeth contained in it," she added.

Crikelair also received confirmation that the lower lump on her tailbone was merely a cyst filled with fluid.

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