What is Yellow Jaundice? What is the best treatment for it?

Jaundice is the medical term that describes the disease in which there is predominant yellowing of the skin and eyes. Jaundice may indicate several possible underlying illnesses like a malfunction of your red blood cells, liver, gallbladder, or pancreas.

• Bilirubin is a waste product that remains in the bloodstream after iron is removed from hemoglobin in red blood cells.

• The excess bilirubin which is circulating freely in the blood is called unconjugated bilirubin. It is the function of the liver to filter out this waste. If it is not functioning properly, the excess of this substance can leak into the surrounding tissues and these tissues are then saturated with this yellow substance.

Causes

• This can be caused due to different reasons like the inflammation of the liver or bile duct due to which excess bilirubin is build up in the liver.

• Hemolytic anemia may be another reason due to which there may be excess breaking down of red blood cells and piling up of bilirubin in the blood.

• There can be inherited or genetic malfunctioning of the liver which impairs the ability of enzymes to process the excretion of bile.

Symptoms

• Dark urine

• Loss of weight

• Vomiting

• The stools are paler than usual

• Pain in the abdomen

• Fatigue

• Yellowish color to the skin

Treatment

• To proceed with the treatment of jaundice, a doctor has to diagnose the specific cause in order to select suitable treatment options.

• Jaundice caused due to anemia will be treated by giving oral supplements of Iron or prescribing iron-rich foods.

• Hepatitis jaundice will be treated with medications.

• Obstruction induced jaundice may require surgery to remove the obstruction.