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Jaundice

Also called: Icterus

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Basics

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Diagnosis and Tests
Treatments and Therapies

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Genetics

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Summary

Jaundice causes your skin and the whites of your eyes to turn yellow. Too much bilirubin causes jaundice. Bilirubin is a yellow chemical in hemoglobin, the substance that carries oxygen in your red blood cells. As red blood cells break down, your body builds new cells to replace them. The old ones are processed by the liver. If the liver cannot handle the blood cells as they break down, bilirubin builds up in the body and your skin may look yellow.

Many healthy babies have some jaundice during the first week of life. It usually goes away. However, jaundice can happen at any age and may be a sign of a problem. Jaundice can happen for many reasons, such as:

Blood diseases
Genetic syndromes
Liver diseases, such as hepatitis or cirrhosis
Blockage of bile ducts
Infections
Medicines

Start Here

Recognizing Jaundice: Signs That Your Liver Isn't Delivering (National Institutes of Health) Also in Spanish

Diagnosis and Tests

Bilirubin Blood Test (National Library of Medicine) Also in Spanish
Liver Function Tests (National Library of Medicine) Also in Spanish

Treatments and Therapies

Exchange transfusion - series (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish

Specifics

Gilbert Syndrome (Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research) Also in Spanish

Genetics

Crigler-Najjar syndrome: MedlinePlus Genetics (National Library of Medicine)
Dubin-Johnson syndrome: MedlinePlus Genetics (National Library of Medicine)

Clinical Trials

ClinicalTrials.gov: Hyperbilirubinemia (National Institutes of Health)
ClinicalTrials.gov: Jaundice (National Institutes of Health)
ClinicalTrials.gov: Kernicterus (National Institutes of Health)

Journal Articles References and abstracts from MEDLINE/PubMed (National Library of Medicine)

Find an Expert

Children

Jaundice and Breastfeeding (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)
Jaundice in Newborns (Nemours Foundation) Also in Spanish

Adults

Jaundice in Adults (Merck & Co., Inc.)

Patient Handouts

Bilirubin - urine (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish
Bilirubin blood test (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish
Jaundice (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish
Jaundice causes (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish
Newborn jaundice (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish
Newborn jaundice - discharge (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish

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