The medical study of grossly deformed individuals is called
teratology (the study of "monsters" or "wonders").
Monster, is a
pejorative term for a grossly deformed individual. These severely deformed humans rarely survive, although there have been some celebrated examples such as
Joseph Merrick, known as the 'Elephant Man'. Some cases, such as
conjoined twins, were formerly regarded as monsters, but are now candidates for surgery.
With greater understanding of the origins of these phenomena, this field now overlaps other fields of medicine, particularly developmental biology and embryology.
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