Jaundice

Jaundice is yellowish discoloration of the skin, whites of the eyes, or mucous membranes due to an increase of bile pigments in the blood. Jaundice is often symptomatic of other diseases.

Jaundice is directly linked with the chemical bilirubin. The color of humans skin is dependant on maintaining a certain level of bilirubin, and when the bilirubin level is moderately elevated, the skin begins to turn a shade of yellow. When the bilirubin level increases significantly, the skin begins to turn a shade of brown. Jaundice most commonly occurs when one of three things happens.

1. There is too much bilirubin being produced for the liver to remove from the blood.
2. There is a defect in the liver that prevents bilirubin from being removed from the blood.
3. There is a blockage of the bile ducts that decreases the flow of bile and bilirubin from the liver into the intestines.

Adult Jaundice by itself causes few problems. Besides visually looking yellow and having dark urine and light stools, jaundice is relatively harmless. What presents the most problems is the disease that is causing the jaundice. Some things that can cause jaundice are acute inflammation of the liver, chronic liver disease, blockage of bile ducts, inflammation of bile ducts, and varying genetic disorders.http://www.medicinenet.com/jaundice/page4.htm

Neonatal Jaundice is jaundice that begins within the first few days after birth. Bilirubin levels become elevated in almost all infants during the first few days after birth, and in fact jaundice occurs in more than half. This elevation and jaundice is completely normal, and for all but a few infants this does not cause any problems.

After an infant is born, their body quickly starts to destroy red blood cells containing a type of hemoglobin that is only necessary before birth. This overloads the liver with bilirubin derived from the fetal hemoglobin from the destroyed red blood cells. Because the infants liver is immature, it is unable to handle all of the processes and the bilirubin levels rise. Within two to three weeks, the destruction of red blood cells eventually ends, and the bilirubin levels return to normal.

Another less common form of neonatal jaundice is breast feeding jaundice. The cause of this type of jaundice is still unknown.

Jaundice usually does not cause problems in infants, however there is a concern that high or prolonged elevations of bilirubin can potentially cause neurological damage. Because of these concerns, treatment is usually started to lower the levels of bilirubin. The timing of the treatment often coincides with whether the infant was born prematurely or on schedule.http://www.medicinenet.com/jaundice/page4.htm