PlasmaLedger

Who can donate plasma? Eligibility, explained

Last reviewed 16 September 2026. Every medical and regulatory statement below is cited to its source at the end of the page. Pay figures are reported by donors, not quoted by operators.

Two different sets of rules decide whether you can donate. The FDA sets the health and safety criteria every licensed US center must apply. Each operator then adds its own admission policy on top — age limits, which documents it will accept, and how it treats recent tattoos. The first set is uniform; the second is not.

What the FDA requires

Measured at every donation, before collection (21 CFR 630.10(f)):

  • Weight. "The donor must weigh a minimum of 50 kilograms (110 pounds)."
  • Haemoglobin or haematocrit. At least 12.5 g/dL or 38% for female donors, 13.0 g/dL or 39% for male donors. The regulation also lets a center collect from a female donor between 12.0 and 12.5 g/dL, or 36 to 38% haematocrit, where it follows an alternative procedure FDA has found acceptable — so a result just under 12.5 is not automatically the end of the visit.
  • Temperature, blood pressure and pulse. Oral temperature must not exceed 37.5 °C (99.5 °F); blood pressure must fall between 90–180 systolic and 50–100 diastolic; pulse must be regular and between 50 and 100 beats per minute. For blood pressure and pulse the regulation allows a donor outside those limits to give anyway, where the responsible physician examines them and documents that donating would not harm their health.
  • Total plasma protein, checked before each plasmapheresis procedure and required to be between 6.0 and 9.0 g/dL (21 CFR 630.15(b)(4)).
  • Proof of identity and a postal address where you can be contacted for 8 weeks afterwards (21 CFR 630.10(g)(1)).

Note what is not there: the donor eligibility regulations at 21 CFR 630.10 and 630.15 set no minimum donor age for source plasma. The 18-and-over rule is the operators' own, and it is set out below.

What operators require on top

This varies, so check the center you plan to visit:

  • Age. CSL Plasma accepts donors aged 18 through 74; Octapharma Plasma accepts 18 to 70. Both set the floor at 18.
  • Documents. Both operators we checked ask for more than the FDA does. Octapharma asks first-time donors for a valid photo ID, proof of a Social Security number, and a document confirming residency; CSL asks for valid identification and a permanent address. Turning up without the residency document an operator asks for is a wasted trip, so check its list before you travel.
  • Recent tattoos or piercings. CSL Plasma defers donors with tattoos or piercings from the previous 4 months.

Your first visit takes longer

A physician-conducted medical history and physical examination is required on the day of your first donation, or within the week before it, and then at least once a year after that. It is repeated in full if you stop donating for six months (21 CFR 630.15(b)(1)). CSL Plasma tells donors a first donation "can take between 2 and 2 ½ hours" (CSL Plasma); that is operator guidance rather than a regulated figure, and other operators may differ.

Temporary deferrals

Some are in the regulation, some are operator policy:

  • Recent whole-blood donation — 8 weeks, with a narrow 2-day exception depending on the collection device (21 CFR 630.15(b)(6)).
  • Pregnancy, at the time of donation or within the 6 weeks before it, is part of the required medical-history assessment (21 CFR 630.10(e)(2)).
  • A temperature over the limit. The screening takes your oral temperature, and the regulation requires it not to exceed 37.5 °C (99.5 °F) (21 CFR 630.10(f)(1)). That is a reading taken on the day. Whether a particular illness puts you over it is not something this page can tell you in advance.
  • Feeling unwell, which is a separate matter from that reading. CSL Plasma tells donors not to donate if they are feeling ill — an operator instruction that does not depend on a thermometer.
  • A haemoglobin or haematocrit result below the threshold above. Donors commonly call this being turned away for "low iron", but the two are not the same measurement. A haemoglobin test measures "an iron-rich protein in your red blood cells"; iron status itself is assessed by different tests — serum iron, ferritin, transferrin and total iron-binding capacity (MedlinePlus). A low haemoglobin result can also point to causes other than iron deficiency, including blood loss and a lack of vitamin B-12 (MedlinePlus). What the center measures, and what the threshold applies to, is the haemoglobin or haematocrit figure.
  • Recent tattoos, piercings and current medications are handled by operator policy and by the physician's assessment, and differ between companies.

If you are deferred

A deferral has to be told to you, and the screening deferrals above are temporary by definition.

The center must notify you. Under 21 CFR 630.30(b) a donor found unsuitable must be deferred and notified, and 21 CFR 630.40 requires the establishment to make "reasonable attempts to notify any donor... who has been determined not to be eligible as a donor based on eligibility criteria under §§630.10 and 630.15", telling them "that the donor is deferred or determined not to be eligible for donation and the reason for that decision."

Most of the screening deferrals above are temporary by definition. 21 CFR 630.35 lets a center treat a previously deferred donor as eligible again once "the previous deferral was for a defined period of time and that time period has passed, or the deferral was otherwise temporary" — and it names the criteria in 630.10(f)(1) through (5) and 630.15(b)(4) as exactly that kind. Those are the temperature, blood pressure, haemoglobin, pulse and weight checks, and the total-protein check. Failing one of them on a Tuesday says nothing about the following Tuesday.

Why your first two visits are different

Beyond the FDA rules, most US collection centers operate under the Plasma Protein Therapeutics Association's International Quality Plasma Program. Its Qualified Donor Standard requires that "potential donors must pass two separate medical screenings and testing for HIV, HBV and HCV on two different occasions" before becoming a Qualified Donor (PPTA). A donor who does not return within six months loses that status and has to qualify again — which lines up with the FDA's own rule that a new medical history and physical examination is required after a six-month gap (21 CFR 630.15(b)(1)).

This is the reason the first two visits feel different from the rest, and the reason a long absence sends you back through the full first-visit process.

Longer-term deferrals

Some chronic conditions and some medications prevent donation. We do not publish a condition-by-condition list, because eligibility for a named medical condition is a decision for the center's medical staff with your history in front of them. Call the center before you travel.

Once you know you are eligible, find a location on the center directory or near you, and read what happens on a first visit.

Sources