Donating Plasma
With your plasma, you help save patients in life-threatening situations. Think of someone experiencing massive blood loss or suffering from severe burns. Plasma is also used as a raw material for life-improving or life-saving medicines for over 100 diseases and conditions, such as blood clotting disorders and autoimmune diseases.
About donating plasma
- Your body recovers faster from donating plasma than from donating blood.
- You can donate plasma more frequently than blood, so you help more patients.
- You can easily schedule your appointment online.
What is plasma?
Plasma is a fluid in which blood cells and platelets float. It’s packed with antibodies and other proteins that play a crucial role in the treatment of over 100 diseases.
Am I eligible to donate plasma?
After you register online, we can advise wheter you are more suitable as a plasma donor or as a blood donor. Whether you can donate plasma depends on several factors, such as:
- Veins: For plasma donation, your veins need to be easy to access with a needle.
- Blood type: People with certain blood types are more urgently needed as blood donors than as plasma donors.
- Ferritin: Your first plasma donation may be temporarily postponed if you recently donated blood and had low ferritin levels. In that case, a recovery period of 6 to 12 months is needed. For donors with low ferritin, it’s recommended to limit plasma donations to once every two months. The blood bank will inform you so you can take this into account when scheduling your appointments.
How plasma donation works
- When you donate plasma, a machine separates your plasma from your blood cells.
- After the separation, we keep the plasma and your blood cells are returned to your body.
- This allows your body to recover faster than after donating blood, and you can donate more often — up to 26 times a year!
Possible unwanted effects from plasma donation
Tingling or Nausea
You may feel a tingling sensation around your mouth or experience nausea during the donation. Fortunately, this rarely happens. If it does, let us know — the machine can be slowed down slightly, which usually resolves the issue quickly.
Bruising
The chance of getting a bruise at the needle site is slightly higher with plasma donation than with blood donation. This is due to the longer donation time and the return of your blood cells.
Risk of Scarring
Some plasma donors may develop scarring in the elbow crease after years of donating. This can make it more difficult to access a vein. Our blood bank staff monitor this closely.
What Is Plasma Used For?
Most of the plasma collected from donations is used to produce plasma-derived medicines. These medicines are essential for treating patients with immune system disorders or blood clotting conditions.
Sanquin does not produce these plasma medicines itself. Therefore, most plasma donations are sold to a pharmaceutical company that processes the plasma into medicines and makes them available to patients in the Netherlands. The Dutch market for plasma-derived medicines is open to international, commercial pharmaceutical companies. As a result, these medicines are sold at market-based, commercial prices.
Veelgestelde vragen
Become a Plasma Donor
Each year, we help 25,000 patients with plasma, and the demand is growing by 7% annually. That’s why we really need you.
1. Sign up as a plasma donor
Let us know you want to donate plasma by filling out the switch to plasma form. Not a donor yet? Register as a donor first.
2. Schedule your donation
Plan your plasma donation via MijnSanquin. You simply book an appointment at a time that suits you.
Do you need help?
Call us at 088-730 8686. We’re here to help.