Yellow Eyes in Lagos: What It Means and What to Do
Yellow eyes (jaundice) means bilirubin: a yellow pigment from broken-down blood cells, is accumulating in your body. It always has a cause that needs to be found. This page explains the common causes, the red flags, and what tests you need at Mascot Healthcare.
What Causes Yellow Eyes?
Jaundice has three broad categories of cause, pre-hepatic (blood breakdown), hepatic (liver disease), and post-hepatic (bile duct blockage). The tests that distinguish them are simple and available same-day.
Malaria parasites destroy red blood cells, releasing bilirubin, causing yellow eyes alongside fever and chills. Common and treatable.
Liver inflammation from hepatitis viruses: acute hepatitis A or E classically presents with sudden jaundice, dark urine, and pale stools. Hepatitis B and C cause slower jaundice.
A chronic hepatitis B carrier can develop acute jaundice during a flare of viral activity, requires urgent liver function tests and HBV DNA.
Advanced scarring of the liver from chronic hepatitis B, alcohol, or fatty liver, persistent or recurring jaundice with abdominal swelling.
A gallstone blocking the common bile duct causes jaundice, right upper abdominal pain, and pale stools, a surgical emergency.
In people with sickle cell disease, a haemolytic crisis destroys red blood cells rapidly, causing acute jaundice, pain, and anaemia.
🚨 Go to hospital or clinic today if you have:
- Yellow eyes with high fever (> 38.5°C) and rigors
- Yellow eyes with severe right upper abdominal pain
- Yellow eyes with confusion or unusual drowsiness
- Yellow eyes with dark urine that appeared within 24–48 hours
- Yellow eyes with abdominal swelling (ascites)
- Yellow eyes in a newborn baby (any age)
What Tests Do You Need for Yellow Eyes?
Recommended at Mascot Healthcare
Liver Function Tests (LFTs): Bilirubin, ALT, AST, ALP, GGT, identifies the pattern of liver damage and severity.
Malaria RDT + Blood Film: Excludes malaria as the cause, results in 15–30 minutes.
Hepatitis B & C Screen: HBsAg, anti-HCV, checks for viral hepatitis as the cause.
Full Blood Count: Haemoglobin and blood film, checks for haemolytic anaemia (sickle cell, malaria).
Abdominal Ultrasound: Assesses liver size, bile duct dilation, gallstones, and portal hypertension.
What to Do Right Now
Yellow eyes always have a cause that needs to be identified. Most causes are treatable. The longer you wait, the harder some conditions become to treat.
Many Lagos herbal preparations are hepatotoxic (liver-damaging). Any yellow eyes + herbal use must be disclosed at the clinic, some herbals worsen liver disease significantly.
Stay hydrated and avoid alcohol entirely until the cause is confirmed, alcohol worsens all forms of liver disease.
Some medications cause jaundice (isoniazid for TB, some antibiotics, paracetamol overdose). Bring everything you are taking.
Yellow eyes or jaundice? Get a same-day liver assessment at Mascot Healthcare.
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Last updated 16 October 2026.