Home
Search our site

Stools that are clay, pale, or putty colored.

Alternative Names

Acholic stools

Considerations

Jaundiced (yellow) skin often accompanies clay colored stools.

Bile salts in the stool excreted by the liver give it a normal brown color. Obstruction to bile flow out of the liver (you may see the word "cholestasis"), or liver infections like viral hepatitis (A, B, C, etc.), may produce clay colored stools.

Common Causes

Possible causes for clay colored stool result from problems in the biliary system (the drainage system of the gallbladder, liver, and pancreas):

• Cancer or benign tumors
• Strictures (narrowings)
• Congenital anatomic problems (present at birth)
• Gallstones
• Cysts
• Medications
• Sclerosing cholangitis
• Biliary cirrhosis
• Protein or infectious infiltration
• Alcoholic hepatitis
• Viral hepatitis (A,B,C, etc.)

The underlying cause needs to be investigated.