Jaundice =

Jaundice means that your skin and other body parts turn a yellow colour. Always see a doctor if you become jaundiced, as it is vital to diagnose the cause. The treatment and outlook (prognosis) depend on the cause.

What is jaundice? 

Jaundice causes

It is useful to divide the causes of jaundice into four general areas:

• Conditions affecting the red blood cells.
• Conditions affecting the liver cells.
• Conditions affecting the tiny bile ducts within the liver.
• Conditions affecting the common bile duct outside the liver

Jaundice symptoms

The whites of the eyes are often the first tissues that you notice turning yellow when you develop jaundice. If the bilirubin level is only mildly high then this might be the only part of the body where you can detect a yellow colour. With higher levels of bilirubin, the skin also becomes yellow.

Other symptoms associated with jaundice will depend on the cause but may include one or more of the following:

1)excessive tiredness (fatigue), 

2)tummy (abdominal) pain, 

3)weight loss, 

4)being sick (vomiting), 

5)itching, 

6)high temperature (fever), 

7)pale stools (faeces) and dark urine.