Yellow eyes with normal bloods?

[Mandbb80]

Hi all,

in February, I noticed the whites of my eyes were slightly yellow, and friends and family noticed when I showed them.
I had a month off alcohol and went to the doctors for blood tests and an examination, LFT came back normal, nothing raised and doc suggested it was due to ageing (I’m 44) and tiredness (single mummy to 2)

Just wondered if anyone else has had yellowing of the eyes but normal
bloods?

I vape daily, I drink alcohol regularly (1/2 glasses of wine of an evening maybe 3/4 times a week) and have a month every now and then off alcohol entirely.

A GP friend suggested possible Gilbert’s but with no elevation in my bloods, could this be a possibility? My eyes are not looking any better, maybe a second opinion at the docs?

Thanks so much!

There are lots of things that can cause jaundiced eyes, but the simplest explanation is usually the right one.

Any gallbladder/bile duct problems and/or have you been assessed for non alcohol fatty liver disease?

The fact that LFTs are normal is not a complete indicator that the liver/bile ducts are working normally. It is possible to have normal LFT yet still have some liver issue going on. I'd ask for a fibroscan of the liver and an abdominal ultrasound to check the liver gallbladder and pancreas. That's if you feel you should. I'm surprised GP didn't suggest this at some point.

Anyway, as you probably know, the gallbladder/ducts and fatty liver can be sorted if they are in the early stages.

Wishing you luck in finding out, but I would have it checked out further.

I had similar, following tests like ultrasound/fibroscan it was non alcohol fatty liver disease, (NAFLD) which was caught early and with diet and so on it's ok again now. I didn't have jaundice but was tired and out of sorts. Not overweight which was odd, but that's not unusual.

Thanks so much for replying and for the information 😊

I had my gallbladder removed in 2018 and haven’t had any issues since it was removed, I wonder if it’s possible for something to come up this far along afterwards?

I will get back to the doctor and request a second opinion and talk with them about what you’ve mentioned, thank you’

I'd have the bloods repeated and if the LFTs are still within range, but you continue to have jaundiced eyes I'd ask for fibroscan and/or abdominal ultrasound. Take it from there.

I'm sure your GP is a good 'un, but sometimes they don't realise that normal LFTs don't always mean something isn't right either!

Wishing you well. You might come back at some point to update. As you can see, having gone through similar, I have an interest!

Thanks again, and yes I will certainly come back to update! X

Not saying that this is what you have but we have a genetic blood condition in our family called Hereditary Spherocytosis which, despite being a blood condition, isn’t always detectable in the blood if not severe.
Basically the red blood cells are sphere shaped, the spleen notices this and breaks them down quickly, bilirubin is released and causes jaundice.

I have it and so do our two sons. In them it was noticed from birth but I wasn’t diagnosed until I was 18 and jaundiced. I’d had blood tests before which hadn’t picked it up.
Both me and our youngest son have had splenectomies and within a day or two the jaundice was gone. We also had our gallbladders removed at the same time as they’re affected by the build up of bilirubin.
It’s just a condition that’s there, it doesn’t have any effect on us from day to day and we just have to be careful with infections due to being without our spleens.