What is Icteric sclera?
Icteric sclera means the white part of your eye is yellow, a sign of jaundice. A variety of conditions can cause jaundice, including problems with the liver, pancreas, or gallbladder.
What causes Icteric sclera?
The most common causes include gallstones and malignancy, such as pancreatic cancer and cholangiocarcinoma. In adults, scleral icterus can also occur due to liver dysfunction. Causes include drug-induced liver disease, parasites (liver fluke), viral hepatitis, and alcoholic and non-alcoholic cirrhosis.
What are the 3 phases of jaundice?
Bilirubin metabolism takes place in three phases—prehepatic, intrahepatic, and posthepatic. Dysfunction in any of these phases may lead to jaundice.
What do you call the yellowing of skin and mucous membrane?
Jaundice is a condition in which the skin, whites of the eyes and mucous membranes turn yellow because of a high level of bilirubin, a yellow-orange bile pigment. Jaundice has many causes, including hepatitis, gallstones and tumors. In adults, jaundice usually doesn’t need to be treated.
Is the sclera supposed to be white?
The white part of the eye that serves as a protective layer is called the sclera, which covers over 80% of the eyeball’s surface. A healthy sclera should be white. If it becomes yellow or discolored, an underlying condition may be present.
Does scleral icterus go away?
There is no direct treatment for either scleral icterus or jaundice. Treatment options will depend on the underlying disease or health problem causing the yellowing of the eyes and/or skin. Conversely, the prognosis of scleral icterus or jaundice will vary based on the cause.
What’s the difference between scleral icterus and jaundice?
Scleral icterus is often used to describe jaundice in the eyes, though this label is not entirely accurate. The conjunctiva (mucous membrane) of the eye, rather than the sclera, is what actually takes on the yellow color as bilirubin levels rise.
Is there such a thing as a scleral icterus?
Scleral icterus is a term commonly used in the textbooks; however, from a histopathologic perspective, it is a misnomer. Bilirubin has a high affinity for elastin which is an abundant protein in the conjunctivae as well as the superficial, fibrovascular episclerae, but not the sclerae proper.
What causes the yellowing of the sclera Icterus?
Bilirubin passes through the liver prior to being excreted from an individual’s body. If the liver doesn’t function properly, the levels of this substance may elevate in blood causing sclera icterus or yellowing of a person’s eye part that is normally white in color.
Which is the best description of an Icterus?
Definition of Icterus. Icterus is the yellowish discoloration of skin and mucous membrane and body fluids (CSF, joint fluid, cysts) evident as a result of hyperbilirubinemia with subsequent deposition of bile pigments in tissue which is rich in elastin.