Conjoined Camacho Twins Photo Update: Ballenie And Bellanie 'Doing Very Well' After 21-Hour Separation Surgery

A team of doctors in New York have successfully separated a set of 11-month-old conjoined twins from the Dominican Republic. Ballenie and Bellanie Camacho made their public debut Tuesday, a week after the Jan. 17 procedure that changed the sisters' lives, and they instantly captured the collective heart of the internet.

"Ballenie and Bellanie are as strong as they are beautiful, and this dynamic duo is doing very well after a very long and complex surgery," pediatrician Samir Pandya told NBC New York.

The girls were born to Laurilin Celadilla Marte and Marino Abel Camacho on Feb. 4, 2016. Their parents previously knew they were having twins, but they were surprised to find their infant daughters conjoined at the lower back at birth. They transferred Ballenie and Bellanie from the Dominican Republic to the United States when they discovered Ballenie had a heart condition that was affecting them both, the "Today" show reported.

At the Maria Fareri Children's Hospital in Valhalla, New York, the twins started preparing for their surgery, as did the more than 50 medical professionals who would be involved in the process of separating them.

The pediatricians, urologists, neurosurgeons and others practiced with 3-D models of the girls' bodies. And on Jan. 17, when the girls were finally moved apart after 21 hours, everyone clapped.

"Things went really well," Pandya told "Today." "We are very happy with how everything was choreographed and coordinated and worked out in the operating room."

Having conjoined twins is relatively rare — it occurs about once every 200,000 births, according to the University of Maryland Medical Center. About a third of conjoined twins only live for a day, and their longer-term survival rate averages between 5 and 25 percent.

Ballenie and Bellanie will likely need rehabilitation and other types of therapy to help them straighten their spines. But for now, their mom, Marte, told "Today" she just wants to see them "healthy and independent."