# Why is my daughter's abdomen tinted green? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 19, 2013, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-my-daughters-abdomen-tinted-green/676718 "2013-12-19T13:42:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Hermitian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hermitian/32/470_2.png) [@Hermitian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hermitian)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2013, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-my-daughters-abdomen-tinted-green/676718/21 "2013-12-21T19:02:32Z")
> [@Isilder](#): > > You know the green vein in your arm ? If you cut your arm open and look at the vein directly, its bright red. > When in the bathroom, are the veins of the child’s arm brighter blue or brighter green ? I think so. > > Same thing with the belly, its a fake colour, but this fake colour has moved from not noticeable to just noticeable. If the skin and fat was removed, the muscle would appear red… > I reckon its just a very subtle effect , that can be seen only when everything is white or even slightly blue, caused by the bright white of lamps in the bathroom, and the lack of any yellow, red, brown, tinge created by the lamps , ceiling , walls, curtains floor ?? That matches up fairly well. There is not a lot of color in that bathroom. The walls are light blue and the ceiling is white. > [@Isilder](#): > > The translucent effect created by fat layer in the childs belly is causing the same as the ‘green vein’ effect you regularly see, but its such a weak tinge that its only discernible with in the bathrooms bright white light. This sounds reasonable. > [@Isilder](#): > > But the child would have numerous other symptoms… > When the symptom is just the one symptom and only so slight that it can only be seen in the bright white light in the bathroom, it is a trick of the eye and brain, not a symptom. Maybe just semantics, but I don’t know if I would call it a “trick.” The greener light is there. I can take a picture of it, and open it in a photo editing program, those regions have a higher green component. ---
**Author:** ![Chief\_Pedant](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a6a055/32.png) [@Chief\_Pedant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chief_Pedant)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2013, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-my-daughters-abdomen-tinted-green/676718/22 "2013-12-22T04:00:02Z")
The most likely thing is unrecognized cirhhosis with prominence of the subcutaneous veins over the abdomen… not… She probably just has very pale skin. If it really does look green, it’s just an effect of the ambient lighting along with bluish subQ veins plus a thin layer of yellow subcutaneous fat. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2013, 6:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-my-daughters-abdomen-tinted-green/676718/23 "2013-12-22T06:13:56Z")
> [@DSeid](#): > > Just a small note that the clothing does not need to be green for it to color the skin green. Often dark colored inks and dyes are actually concentrated mixes of several pigments some of which rub off and or travel in sweat more than others (take a black pen and write a big dot on a paper towel, put one side in alcohol and let the alcohol travel across the dot for an hour … see what happens). > > My favorite experience with that is the fact that certain dark, almost black gummy candies will turn kids poop flourescent green. That happened to me when I ate too many black jelly beans! I second that it may be clothing dye, or distorted color perception from a light bulb. ---
**Author:** ![cmyk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmyk/32/3353_2.png) [@cmyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmyk)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2013, 6:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-my-daughters-abdomen-tinted-green/676718/24 "2013-12-22T06:25:37Z")
Also, the skin can take on a different appearance in bath water, due to the water filtering the light, and refraction through it and bouncing off the tub walls. This could be amplifying any effect the fluorescent lights may be producing, which as noted already, produce an unnaturally greenish-white quality of light. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-my-daughters-abdomen-tinted-green/676718.md?page=1)