Election Section

LOS ANGELES — Doctors are uncertain when twin girls born joined at the head and separated during a marathon surgery will be able to return home to Guatemala, a hospital spokeswoman said Monday. 

Maria de Jesus and Maria Teresa Quiej Alvarez were expected to fly home with their parents this week. Instead, doctors at Mattel Children’s Hospital at the University of California, Los Angeles, postponed their return. 

“Everybody was so disappointed when we got the news they weren’t able to go back but we certainly don’t want to rush them if it’s not in their best interest,” said Cris Embleton, director of Healing the Children, the group that arranged the surgery. 

Maria de Jesus underwent surgery last week to cover a quarter-sized wound with a skin graft. 

On Sunday, when doctors removed the dressing covering her scalp, they found the graft had taken over all but a sliver of the wound, said UCLA plastic surgeon Dr. Henry Kawamoto Jr. 

Doctors will continue to clean and monitor her wound for the next several days before judging whether she is ready to leave the hospital with her twin Maria Teresa and their parents. 

Initially, it was Maria Teresa who lagged in recovering from the Aug. 6, 23-hour surgery because of follow-up operations. 

The girls were born in rural Guatemala, but will live, at least initially, in Guatemala City after returning home. There, the 15-month-old girls face follow-up surgeries to gradually stretch their scalps to eliminate the skin grafts and allow them to grow full heads of hair.