Getting rid of jaundice depends entirely on what’s causing it, because jaundice itself is a symptom, not a standalone disease. In newborns, mild jaundice often resolves on its own within a week, while moderate to severe cases clear up within days under medical light therapy. In adults, the yellow tint in your skin and eyes won’t fade until the underlying liver, blood, or bile duct problem is addressed. Here’s what treatment looks like for each situation and what you can do to support recovery.
Why Jaundice Happens
Jaundice appears when bilirubin, a yellow pigment produced during the normal breakdown of red blood cells, builds up in your blood faster than your body can process and eliminate it. Normally, your liver filters bilirubin out and sends it into your digestive tract through bile. When something disrupts that process, bilirubin accumulates and stains your skin, the whites of your eyes, and sometimes even your gums yellow.
The three broad categories of disruption are: your body breaking down too many red blood cells at once (producing excess bilirubin), your liver failing to process bilirubin properly (from hepatitis, cirrhosis, or drug-related liver injury), or a physical blockage preventing bile from draining (gallstones or tumors in the bile duct). Treatment targets whichever of these is happening.
Treating Jaundice in Newborns
Most newborn jaundice is physiologic, meaning it’s a normal part of adjusting to life outside the womb. A baby’s immature liver simply needs a few days to catch up with bilirubin processing. This type typically resolves on its own within about a week without any intervention beyond frequent feeding, which helps the baby pass bilirubin through stool.
When bilirubin levels climb higher than expected for the baby’s age and gestational week, phototherapy is the standard treatment. The baby is placed under blue-green LED lights (in the 460 to 490 nanometer wavelength range) that penetrate the skin and convert bilirubin into a water-soluble form. Once converted, the baby can excrete it through urine and stool without the liver needing to process it first. The treatment is safe, effective, and noninvasive. Babies typically wear only a diaper during sessions to maximize skin exposure, with eye shields to protect their vision.
The American Academy of Pediatrics sets phototherapy thresholds based on the baby’s gestational age (measured in weeks), age in hours, and whether neurotoxicity risk factors are present, such as immune-related blood cell breakdown, certain enzyme deficiencies, or signs of infection. Babies closer to 35 weeks’ gestation have lower thresholds for starting treatment than full-term babies. Home phototherapy is sometimes an option for otherwise healthy infants without risk factors, started at bilirubin levels 2 to 3 mg/dL below hospital thresholds.
Sunlight Is Not a Safe Substitute
You may hear that placing a jaundiced baby near a sunny window helps. While sunlight does contain the right wavelengths, it also delivers ultraviolet and infrared radiation that can cause sunburn, overheating, and dehydration in a newborn. Medical phototherapy provides the exact spectrum needed without those risks. The Mayo Clinic explicitly advises against sunlight as a jaundice treatment.
Warning Signs That Need Emergency Care
Untreated severe jaundice in newborns can, in rare cases, lead to a form of brain damage called kernicterus. If your baby has visible jaundice and develops any of the following, call emergency services immediately:
- Back arching with the head extended backward, forming a C-shape with the body
- Nonstop or high-pitched screaming that sounds different from normal crying
- Unusual muscle tone, either very stiff or very floppy
- Seizures
Treating Jaundice in Adults
There is no single pill or procedure that eliminates adult jaundice directly. Your doctor will run blood tests and often imaging (ultrasound or CT scan) to determine whether the problem is in your blood, your liver, or your bile ducts. Sometimes a liver biopsy is needed. Once the cause is identified, treating it resolves the jaundice.
Liver-Related Causes
Hepatitis (viral inflammation of the liver), cirrhosis (long-term scarring), and fatty liver disease are among the most common liver problems behind adult jaundice. Viral hepatitis may be treated with antiviral medications. Alcohol-related liver damage requires complete alcohol cessation. If a medication is causing liver injury, stopping that drug is the priority. Acetaminophen is one of the most well-known causes of dose-related liver toxicity, but many other medications, including certain antibiotics, cholesterol-lowering drugs, and blood pressure medications, can stress the liver in susceptible people. If you develop jaundice while taking any medication, your doctor needs to know immediately.
Bile Duct Blockages
Gallstones or tumors can physically block the ducts that carry bile from the liver to the intestine, causing bilirubin to back up into the bloodstream. The most common procedure to fix this is called ERCP, where a flexible scope is passed through the mouth and into the small intestine to access the bile duct opening. Doctors can then remove stones or place a small tube (stent) to hold the duct open. This procedure has a success rate of about 90% with a low rate of complications. In the 5 to 10% of cases where it fails, usually due to altered anatomy from prior surgery or tumor invasion, alternative drainage procedures are available.
Excess Red Blood Cell Breakdown
Conditions like sickle cell disease, autoimmune disorders, or reactions to blood transfusions can destroy red blood cells faster than normal, flooding the liver with more bilirubin than it can handle. Treatment focuses on the underlying blood disorder, which might involve immune-suppressing medications, blood transfusions, or in some cases surgical removal of the spleen.
Supporting Recovery Through Diet
While diet alone won’t cure jaundice, what you eat and drink directly affects how well your liver recovers once the underlying problem is being treated. The American Liver Foundation recommends a balanced diet built around fruits, vegetables, lean proteins, and whole grains, similar to a Mediterranean-style eating pattern.
Specific foods that support liver health include fatty fish like salmon and sardines (rich in omega-3 fatty acids), avocados, nuts, olive oil, and eggs, all of which contain monounsaturated fats that may help reduce liver fat accumulation. Water-rich foods like watermelon, cantaloupe, cucumbers, berries, and peaches boost hydration while providing nutrients your liver can use during recovery.
Equally important is what to cut out. Alcohol is the most obvious one, but you should also minimize saturated fats from red meat, butter, and full-fat dairy, along with trans fats found in fried foods and processed snacks like chips, cookies, and candy bars. These fats increase inflammation and can worsen liver damage over time. Sugary drinks, refined carbohydrates, and heavily processed foods should be limited as well.
Staying well-hydrated helps your body flush bilirubin more efficiently. If plain water gets boring, try infusing it with lemon, berries, or orange slices, or switch to coconut water for a naturally electrolyte-rich alternative.
How Long Jaundice Takes to Clear
In newborns with mild physiologic jaundice, the yellow color fades within about a week as the liver matures. Babies who need phototherapy often show noticeable improvement within 24 to 48 hours of starting treatment, though they may need continued monitoring afterward.
In adults, the timeline depends almost entirely on the cause. A bile duct stone removed by ERCP can lead to visible improvement within days. Drug-induced liver injury may take weeks to months to fully resolve after the offending medication is stopped. Chronic conditions like cirrhosis may mean jaundice comes and goes over a longer period, improving with management but not necessarily disappearing entirely. The yellow discoloration is always the last visible sign to fade, often lingering in the skin for a couple of weeks after bilirubin levels return to normal, simply because the pigment takes time to clear from tissue.
Reducing Your Risk Going Forward
For adults who’ve experienced jaundice, protecting your liver from further stress lowers the chance of recurrence. Maintain a healthy weight, since excess body fat contributes to fatty liver disease. Limit or eliminate alcohol. Be cautious with over-the-counter pain relievers, particularly acetaminophen, and avoid combining them with alcohol. Manage your cholesterol through diet and, if needed, medication. Be skeptical of herbal and natural supplements marketed for “liver detox,” as many of these products can actually cause liver injury themselves. Vaccination against hepatitis A and B is a straightforward preventive step if you haven’t already been vaccinated.