YELLOW SKIN A BETTER PREDICTOR?

If kernicterus develops in an infant due to high serum bilirubin, low reserve albumin, and acidosis, bilirubin acid will also be deposited in the skin. In consequence, it seems possible that the yellow colour of the skin is correlated with that of the brain, to the extent that bilirubin deposition in the skin has occurred by precipitation of bilirubin acid. If so, the intensity of the yellow colour of the skin may be a somewhat better predictor of brain damage than the serum bilirubin concentration and measurement of the colour of the skin may theoretically be of clinical utility.