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 in the common bile duct, and pancreatic cancer in the head of the pancreas. Also, a group of parasites known as "liver flukes" can live in the common bile duct, causing obstructive jaundice. Other causes include strictures of the common bile duct, biliary atresia, cholangiocarcinoma, pancreatitis, cholestasis of pregnancy, and pancreatic pseudocysts. A rare cause of obstructive jaundice is Mirizzi's syndrome (gallstone impaction in the cystic duct or gallbladder neck, with the enlarged gallbladder squeezing on the common hepatic duct). In complete obstruction of the bile duct, no urobilinogen is found in the urine, since bilirubin has no access to