How Often Can You Donate Plasma

Blood is an essential part of our body. It contains red blood cells, white blood cells, and platelets. Apart from these constituents, the rest is blood plasma. Blood plasma constitutes 55% of the blood. Like blood, you can also donate plasma to the needy people and to the medical research centers to help people in need. Many people actively donate plasma either to their loved ones or to the medical centers which accept plasma for money. But people usually wonder how often can they donate plasma. Well, in this article we are going to discuss the plasma donation requirements, process and of course, the time intervals according to which you can donate it.

What is Blood Plasma and Why is it Donated?

Blood plasma is a constituent of blood. It holds 55% of the total volume of the blood. It constitutes 90% water. The rest of the volume contains clotting factors, glucose, hormones, proteins and mineral ions. This is a very important part as it maintains the immune system and supplies nutrition to all the parts of the body. Like blood donation, plasma donation for money has also become very frequent. Many medical organizations pay a considerable amount of money to the donors. This donated plasma is used for many purposes. It is given to the people who are suffering from immunodeficiency diseases, shock, burns, bleeder's disease, for newborn infants who have a different blood group from their mother etc. Plasma is also taken for many medical research and development purposes.

Plasma Donation Requirements

To donate blood plasma you need to be more than 18 years of age, and your body weight should be at least 110 pounds. The first time that you visit the medical center for donating you may be required to undergo many medical examinations. These tests will include various blood tests, HIV test, heart examination, allergic condition, infection, disease, drug abuse, and other medical tests. Apart from this, you will be asked about your medical history. If you have got a tattoo or piercing done in the last one year then you may not be eligible for plasma donation. Your plasma may not get accepted in case you have a family history of cancer. Different medical centers may have different plasma donation requirements to be fulfilled by the donor.

How Often Can You Donate Plasma?

Plasma donation is very safe and the body recovers the plasma very fast. But it is very important to know the time you need to give your body to get back to the normal count. Blood plasma donation centers accept plasma from a healthy person twice in any seven day period. However, there should be a difference of at least one day between both the donation days. This difference is necessary to maintain the amount of plasma in the blood. If the person maintains good health with a proper healthy diet, then he can donate plasma twice every week. In the case you have donated whole blood, you cannot donate plasma for the next eight weeks. It is because the body requires more time to recover whole blood than recovering only plasma.

Now let's talk about how to donate plasma. The process of donating plasma is very easy but it takes more time than the blood donation process. Plasma donation process is also known as 'plasmapheresis'. Before the donation you need to undergo many medical examinations according to the donation center's rules and regulations. These tests may take more than 2 hours or so, depending upon the number of tests. Once you clear all the tests, you will be asked to go for the plasma donation. The blood is taken from the donor and then, with the help of centrifugation process the plasma is separated from the blood. The plasma is extracted and the rest of the blood is again diffused inside the body. The separation process is done with the help of a machine. The machine takes a considerable amount of blood from the body, separates it and then again puts it back in the body. This process takes an hour or so.

I hope by now you know how often can you donate plasma. Although many people do it for money, it helps in saving the life of many. There are very few plasma donation risks and the donor can recover in a very short span. If you want to donate plasma for money then collect the information about the plasma donation centers as all the centers have different criteria and rules to follow.