Does hepatitis C cause jaundice?

The liver normally processes bilirubin and helps remove it from the body. Hepatitis C can inflame liver tissue, which may disrupt this process. Yellow skin or eyes can occur with dark urine, pale stools, itching, nausea, or unusual tiredness. Hepatitis C may also have no noticeable symptoms, and jaundice has other possible causes, including problems affecting bile flow or blood cells.

New jaundice should be assessed by a healthcare professional, especially if you have had a possible exposure to hepatitis C. The assessment may include questions about medicines, supplements, alcohol, previous illness, and exposure history, followed by blood tests for liver function and viral markers. Avoid alcohol until you have advice, and check before taking medicines or supplements that could affect the liver. Do not donate blood while an infectious cause is being considered.

Get urgent medical help for jaundice with confusion, severe sleepiness, repeated vomiting, intense abdominal pain, bleeding, fever with severe illness, or inability to drink. Rapidly deepening yellowing or very dark urine with marked weakness also warrants prompt review. A clinician can distinguish a liver emergency from less urgent causes through examination and testing.

Ask whether hepatitis C testing is needed, what your liver blood tests show, whether medicines should be paused, and whether people you live with need specific advice about blood exposure.