Yellow Eyes: What Does It Mean?
Did you know your eyes can give hints about your overall health? The portion of your eye called the sclera should look white. If it is discoloured and appears yellow, it means something is wrong.
Remember that yellowing eyes can result from numerous medical conditions, with jaundice being the most common reason. It can also happen if your gallbladder, liver, or pancreas fail to work correctly.
When your body has an excess amount of a chemical called bilirubin, the whites of your eyes can turn yellow. Bilirubin is a yellow substance that forms when your red blood cells break down. Usually, it is not a problem. Your liver filters bilirubin from the blood to make a fluid known as bile.
Bile moves through thin tubes to reach the digestive tract and then gets out of the body as waste. However, if too much bilirubin is in the blood or your liver cannot get rid of it quickly, it will build up in the body. As a result, your eyes will turn yellow, and this condition is called jaundice.
What are the common causes of yellow eyes?
You can suffer from yellowing of eyes due to several reasons, including:
Hepatitis
When your liver gets inflamed, hepatitis occurs. The leading cause is a virus that infects your liver cells, such as hepatitis A, B, or C. This infection can be acute or chronic, which means it can last for six months.
Hepatitis damages your liver, which is why it cannot filter bilirubin. This further causes jaundice. Sometimes, medicines or autoimmune diseases can also make you have hepatitis.
Too much alcohol consumption
If you consume too much alcohol for a long time, it can damage your liver. In some people, alcohol also causes inflammation that damages the liver cells. With time, scars might replace healthy liver tissue, making it difficult for the heart to perform correctly.
Gallstones
Gallstones are complex and pebble-like pieces of material that form in your gallbladder. You need to know that the gallbladder is a small organ present under the liver. Gallstones are often considered the most common cause of obstructed bile ducts.
Bile ducts carry the fluid from the liver to your gallbladder and the small intestine. When bile ducts get obstructed by gallstones, bilirubin builds up in the blood. This further causes the yellowing of your eyes.
Liver infection
Though hepatitis viruses are the common causes of liver infection, they can also occur from parasites such as liver flukes. You can suffer from liver flukes by eating raw or undercooked infected plants and fish.
Certain medications
There are certain medications which can cause jaundice, such as birth control pills, Acetaminophen, Steroids, Penicillin, and Chlorpromazine.
Sickle cell anemia
In sickle cell anaemia, your body makes sticky red blood cells that back up in the liver. These cells often die faster before the liver can filter them out. Bilirubin from these cells builds up in the body and causes jaundice.
Cirrhosis
Cirrhosis is a condition that causes scar tissue to replace your healthy liver cells. It happens slowly with time. Several liver disorders and conditions can cause cirrhosis.
What causes yellow eyes in newborns?
In newborn infants, jaundice is common because the liver is still maturing. Jaundice affects almost 60% of full-term babies and 60% of premature babies in the first week after they are born.
Bilirubin builds up earlier than the immature liver of an infant baby, causing jaundice too often.
Some common causes of neonatal jaundice include:
-
Physiological jaundice
-
Breastfeeding
-
Breast milk
-
Some causes of newborn jaundice that need treatment include:
-
Blood incompatibility jaundice
-
Infections
-
Jaundice of prematurity
When do you need to meet a doctor for yellow eyes?
Along with yellowing of eyes, if you experience any of the following symptoms, meet the doctor immediately:
-
Nose bleeding
-
Losing weight for no reason
-
Pale stools
-
Dark urine
-
Losing your appetite
-
Fever
-
Abnormal joint or muscle pain
-
Leg or abdominal swelling
How to treat yellow eyes?
The first step in treatment is recognizing the cause of yellow eyes. Once you treat the cause, yellow eyes will start to improve. If you have jaundice due to an infection such as malaria or hepatitis C, the doctor will recommend antibiotics, antivirals, or antifungals.
However, if your jaundice is the result of alcohol consumption, you need to reduce its consumption or quit it.
Summary
Therefore, if you suffer from yellowing eyes, you must make an appointment with a doctor immediately. Yellow eyes are usually the result of jaundice, which can be dangerous and cause life-long complications if not treated on time.
