Holoprosencephaly: A Rare Brain Defect

Your brain is supposed to split into two halves, but sometimes, it just doesn't.

This is a rare birth defect called holoprosencephaly, and it happens in the first few weeks of pregnancy.

The fetal brain fails to divide into two separate hemispheres. Instead of two ventricles,

there's just one. This can cause severe facial anomalies, sometimes even a single,

central eye, a condition known as cyclopia. It’s a stark example of what can go wrong

during neurodevelopment, when millions of cells are migrating to build the brain. It’s a reminder

of how incredibly complex and fragile our first few weeks of life truly are.