Conditions

Jaundice

Jaundice is when your skin and the whites of your eyes turn yellow. It can be a sign of something serious, such as liver disease, so you need to get urgent medical help.

Get advice from your doctor now if:

  • your skin and the whites of your eyes look yellow
  • You may also have itchy skin, darker pee and paler poo than usual.
Hand with yellowed skin next to normal hand
Picture showing yellow whites of the eye

Causes of jaundice

Jaundice is caused by the build-up in your body of a yellow substance called bilirubin.

There are lots of possible reasons for this and some of them are serious.

They include:

Treatments for jaundice depend on what's causing it.

Newborn jaundice

Jaundice is common in newborn babies and is usually harmless.

Find out about newborn jaundice