What Are Gallstones?

Gallstones are hardened deposits that form in the gallbladder — a small, pear-shaped organ tucked beneath the liver that stores bile to help you digest fat. They’re remarkably common: many people have them without ever knowing. But when a gallstone causes trouble, it can be genuinely painful, and it’s worth understanding why.

What Are Gallstones Made Of?

Bile is a mix of cholesterol, bile salts, and a pigment called bilirubin. When that mix falls out of balance — usually with too much cholesterol — it can crystallize and clump into stones. They range from tiny grains to stones several centimeters across, and you may have one or many at once.

Most gallstones are cholesterol stones. A smaller share are pigment stones, which tend to form when there’s excess bilirubin in the bile.

What Symptoms Do Gallstones Cause?

Many gallstones are “silent” — they sit in the gallbladder and cause no symptoms at all. Problems begin when a stone blocks the flow of bile. That typically produces a symptom called biliary colic:

• A sudden, intense ache in the upper right or center of the abdomen
• Pain that can radiate to the back or right shoulder blade
• Discomfort that often follows a fatty meal
• Nausea or vomiting alongside the pain

Biliary colic usually lasts from a few minutes to a few hours and then eases. Recurring episodes are a common reason patients come in to be evaluated.

When Gallstones Become an Emergency

Some symptoms signal that a stone has caused a more serious blockage, inflammation, or infection and need prompt medical attention:

• Pain lasting more than a few hours
• Fever and chills
• Yellowing of the skin or eyes (jaundice)
• Dark urine or light-colored stools

These can point to an inflamed gallbladder (cholecystitis) or a stone lodged in the bile duct — situations that shouldn’t wait.

What Causes Gallstones?

Several factors raise the odds of developing gallstones, including a family history, being female, pregnancy, obesity, rapid weight loss, and certain diets high in fat and low in fiber. Age plays a role too — they become more common after 40. Having risk factors doesn’t mean you’ll get gallstones, but it helps explain why they form.

How Are They Diagnosed?

Gallstones are most often found with an abdominal ultrasound — a quick, painless scan that’s very good at spotting them. Depending on your symptoms, Dr. Ash may also order blood work or additional imaging to check whether a stone has moved into the bile duct or caused inflammation.

When Is Removal Needed?

Silent gallstones usually don’t require treatment. But once stones start causing symptoms, they tend to keep doing so — and the standard treatment is removing the gallbladder (a laparoscopic cholecystectomy). You can live a full, healthy life without a gallbladder; the liver simply delivers bile straight to the small intestine instead of storing it.

Dr. Ash performs gallbladder removal using a minimally invasive laparoscopic approach, which typically means small incisions, a shorter recovery, and going home the same day.