Jaundice Vitamin D production. Bilirubin count is lowered through bowel movements and urination, so frequent and effective feedings are especially important. Yellow discoloration of the skin, especially on the palms and the soles, but not of the sclera or inside the mouth is due to carotenemia—a harmless condition. Jaundice itself is not a disease, but rather a sign of one of many possible underlying pathological processes that occur at some point along the normal physiological pathway of the metabolism of bilirubin in blood. When red blood cells have completed their life span of approximately 120 days, or when they are damaged,
Jaundice the sclera of the eyes; its more common and more correct meaning is entirely synonymous with jaundice, however. Hyperbilirubinemia, more precisely hyperbilirubinemia due to the unconjugated fraction, may cause bilirubin to accumulate in the gray matter of the central nervous system, potentially causing irreversible neurological damage leading to a condition known as kernicterus. Depending on the level of exposure, the effects range from clinically unnoticeable to severe brain damage and even death. Newborns are especially vulnerable to hyperbilirubinemia-induced neurological damage and therefore must be carefully monitored for alterations in their serum bilirubin levels. When a pathological process interferes with the