Side effects of phototherapy in newborn

 

Although damage of the gonads during phototherapy is unlikely because the period of exposure is relatively short and gonads are shielded by the skin over the subcutaneous tissue, in most of the neonatal wards infant's gonads keep covered during phototherapy with a small nappy or with the nappy tucked down as far as ...

 

We simply wrapped the male genitalia in a piece of aluminum foil before treatment. Not only did it completely screen out ultraviolet radiation, but also it fully protected the genital skin. By leaving the surrounding skin exposed, involved perigenital skin could be safely treated.

 

In an NICU environment, infants exposed to higher levels of ambient light were found to have an increased risk of retinopathy. Therefore, covering the eyes of infants undergoing phototherapy with eye patches is routine. Care must be taken lest the patches slip and leave the eyes uncovered or occlude one or both nares.

 

Phototherapy is a valuable therapeutic tool in Dermatology, but there may be drawbacks. Acute and long-term adverse effects, of variable severity, include skin erythema, xerosis, pruritus, blistering, altered pigmentation, photoaging, and photocarcinogenesis.

 

If there is a need for phototherapy, the presence of direct hyperbilirubinemia should not be considered a contraindication to its use, particularly in the sick newborn, and, as a rule, the direct serum bilirubin level should not be subtracted from the total bilirubin concentration when decisions are made about ...