One risk factor is prematurity - babies born more than two weeks before their due date are more likely to develop higher levels of bilirubin. There are also risk factors that can help guide clinicians as to which babies must be followed more carefully. This can occur in any newborn who has an exaggerated form of physiologic (normal) jaundice. Pathologic jaundice, however, involves a higher level of bilirubin and requires treatment to hasten the removal of bilirubin. Physiologic jaundice poses no danger to the newborn. The yellow coloring of a baby with physiologic jaundice will often be noticeable around two days of life, will peak at three to five days, and will then resolve within two weeks. These factors lead to physiologic jaundice.
![pathological jaundice in newborn pathological jaundice in newborn](https://www.medcraveonline.com/GHOA/images/GHOA-12-00457-g002.png)
Their livers are also immature and less able to remove the bilirubin from their bodies.
![pathological jaundice in newborn pathological jaundice in newborn](http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_1JYsmg7pV9w/TLdqDzcIsaI/AAAAAAAAAAg/B3-DrIGwTMk/s1600/milia.jpg)
Newborns typically develop higher bilirubin levels than adults over the first few days of life because they have higher levels and faster turnover of red blood cells - and produce more bilirubin. It is then processed by the liver into a form that can be removed in the digestive tract. Bilirubin is released into the blood by the normal breakdown and turnover of red blood cells, which naturally occurs all the time. Jaundice is caused by a pigment that we all have in our blood called bilirubin.
![pathological jaundice in newborn pathological jaundice in newborn](http://authorstream.s3.amazonaws.com/content/1075761_634444627879205000.jpg)
However, a few babies do require treatment - both when they are in the newborn nursery and for a short period after they return home. It is generally a temporary condition that does not cause babies harm and does not require any treatment.
#Pathological jaundice in newborn skin
Jaundice - a yellow coloring of the skin and eyes - occurs in approximately 60 percent of full-term newborns.