Does your skin look abnormally yellow? Do the whites of your eyes look yellow instead of white? You may have the condition known as jaundice. It's not an illness in itself, but a symptom of different diseases. While jaundice does not cause any serious physical harm, it can be hard to live with the condition, since your skin is noticeably yellow.

What Causes Jaundice?

Jaundice is caused by high levels of bilirubin in the blood. The color of your skin and the whites of your eyes depend on the level of bilirubin in your bloodstream. Bilirubin is produced when red blood cells are destroyed in your body. This process removes hemoglobin from the red blood cells, leaving bilirubin behind. Elevated levels of bilirubin cause your skin and your eyes to become yellow or brown. There are many possible causes of elevated bilirubin levels, such as:

• Rapid production of bilirubin: This happens when your body produces too much bilirubin, and your liver can't remove all of it; for instance, the red blood cells of people suffering from hemolytic anemia are destroyed too quickly, releasing huge amounts of bilirubin into their bloodstream.

• Liver defect: People with defective livers may not be able to remove bilirubin from their blood, and develop jaundice. Hepatitis patients usually exhibit jaundice because their livers are not functioning properly.

• Blocked bile ducts: Bilirubin and bile can't freely flow from your liver into the intestines if your bile ducts are blocked. Bile ducts may be blocked by inflammation, gallstones, and tumors.

• Jaundice in babies: Babies are naturally born with huge amounts of red blood cells that carry oxygen. Jaundice in infants occurs when a baby's liver can't process all the bilirubin that comes from the destroyed red blood cells. This type of jaundice is usually harmless, but the doctor should still supervise the baby's condition until jaundice disappears.

Is There A Universal Cure for Jaundice?

There is no universal treatment for jaundice because getting rid of it involves diagnosing and treating the real cause of the problem. For instance, if the cause of jaundice is blockage in the bile ducts, then the object must be removed. In the case of hepatitis, jaundice can be removed by improving the patient’s liver condition. Some cases of jaundice are also temporary and natural, like jaundice in babies, which goes away on its own within a week or two.

Treatments for Jaundice Caused by Hepatitis

Jaundice is commonly associated with hepatitis, a liver disease. People with healthy livers are able to process bilirubin and bile normally, but people with hepatitis will have more bilirubin levels in their blood. For this reason, jaundice is a common symptom of hepatitis, and doctors look for it when diagnosing the patient’s illness.

There are many types of hepatitis, and all of them have jaundice as one of their symptoms. Here are some types of hepatitis, and how they are treated.

• Alcoholic hepatitis: Alcoholic hepatitis results from alcohol abuse that damages the liver. Treatments include nutritional therapy, lifestyle adjustments, drug therapies, and taking antioxidants. The patient must stop his alcohol addiction, so his liver can recover. In some cases though, the damage to the liver is already too significant, so jaundice remains for the rest of the patient’s life. Liver transplant is the last option for patients suffering from alcoholic hepatitis, but there are currently too few organs compared to the number of people needing liver transplants.

• Hepatitis A: Hepatitis A is caused by a virus, and it results in the inflammation of the liver. There are no specific treatments for hepatitis A. The main objective of any treatment is to make sure that the patient gets the right nutrition and avoids further liver damage. Hepatitis A patients are advised to eat soft foods such as toast, broth, and yogurt, so that their livers don’t have to work too hard.

• Hepatitis B: Unlike hepatitis A, hepatitis B is a very serious condition that may lead to cirrhosis, liver cancer, or liver failure. Most hepatitis B patients have jaundice because of their poor liver condition. Hepatitis B can be prevented if the patient receives an injection within 24 hours of his exposure to the virus. For a patient who has already developed the disease, the doctor may prescribe a variety of antiviral medications, including interferon, telbivudine, entecavir, lamivudine, and adefovir dipivoxil.

Treating Jaundice in Babies

Many parents are alarmed when their babies look unusually yellow after their delivery. There’s no reason to panic though, because infant jaundice is quite common, and usually disappears on its own after a week. Only babies with severe jaundice should stay longer in the nursery or hospital. Talk to your doctor about the following treatments if your baby has severe jaundice:

• Exchange blood transfusion: Exchange blood transfusion is rarely used to treat infant jaundice, and often only as a last resort. In this procedure, small amounts of blood are withdrawn from the infant to dilute bilirubin. The blood is then transferred back to the infant, and the process is repeated as often as necessary. Exchange blood transfusion is a sensitive procedure, so it’s often performed in intensive care units.

• Intravenous immunoglobulin: This treatment lessens the need to do an exchange blood transfusion. It involves the intravenous transfusion of antibodies to decrease the symptoms of jaundice. Intravenous immunoglobulin is usually done when infant jaundice is moderate to severe, and when there are differences in the characteristics of the mother and baby’s blood.

• Light therapy: In light therapy or phototherapy, the infant is either wrapped in a special blanket or placed under ultraviolet light. Ultraviolet light can change bilirubin into a form that’s easier for the infant’s kidneys to process. Light therapy may last for several days, depending on the severity of jaundice.

The best way to prevent jaundice is to live an active, healthy lifestyle, and eat a balanced diet. All your bodily processes will be normal if you eat the right food, and exercise regularly. Consult your doctor immediately if you notice any warning signs of jaundice, because it may be a symptom of a condition that needs immediate attention.