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Adult Jaundice

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Jaundice is a condition where your skin, the whites of your eyes and mucous membranes (like the inside of your nose and mouth) turn yellow. Many medical conditions can cause jaundice, like hepatitis, gallstones and tumors. Jaundice usually clears up once your healthcare provider treats your main medical condition.

Jaundice (hyperbilirubinemia) is when your skin, sclera (whites of your eyes) and mucous membranes turn yellow. Jaundice occurs when your liver is unable to process bilirubin (a yellow substance made when red blood cells break down) in your blood. This can either be caused by too much red blood cell breakdown or liver injury.

How jaundice develops:

  • Red blood cell breakdown: Your body regularly breaks down old red blood cells and replaces them with new ones. This breakdown process makes bilirubin.
  • Bilirubin processing: Normally, your liver processes bilirubin, making it a part of bile (a bitter, greenish-brown fluid that helps digest food). Your liver then releases the bile into your digestive system.
  • Too much bilirubin: Jaundice happens when your liver can’t process all the bilirubin your body makes, or if your liver has a problem releasing bilirubin.
  • Yellow color: When there’s too much bilirubin in your blood, it starts to leak into tissues around your blood vessels. This leaking bilirubin makes your skin and the whites of your eyes yellow. This yellow color is a common sign of jaundice.

Possible Causes

What causes jaundice?

Jaundice can result from a problem in any of the three phases of bilirubin:

  • Before your liver processes bilirubin (prehepatic jaundice). This type of jaundice happens before your body makes bilirubin. Too much red blood cell breakdown takes over your liver’s ability to filter out bilirubin from your blood.
  • During the production of bilirubin (hepatic jaundice). This type happens when your liver can’t remove enough bilirubin from your blood. Hepatic jaundice can happen if you have liver failure.
  • After production of bilirubin (posthepatic jaundice). Also called obstructive jaundice, this type happens when a blockage stops bilirubin from draining into your bile ducts.