Requirements

• You are between the ages of 17 and 75; 16 with parental consent
• You are in good health
• You weigh at least 110 pounds

• You may donate platelets as often as every 28 days
• You may donate blood as often as every 56 days 

You may donate even if you take any of the following medications:

• Acetaminophen (e.g. Tylenol)
• Allergy medication
• Anti-inflammatory drugs, such as Advil, Ibuprofen, Motrin and Naprosyn
• Birth control pills
• Depression medication
• Diet pills
• Female hormone pills
• Thyroid medication: if condition is stable

You must wait a certain amount of time to donate if you take any of the following medications: 

• Accutane: four weeks after last dose 
• Antibiotics: seven days after infection, some for acne are OK
• Aspirin: can donate whole blood, cannot donate platelets for 36 hours
• Diabetic medication
• Oral or insulin: can donate if condition is stable
• Injected bovine (beef) insulin since 1980: cannot donate
• Propecia: four weeks after last dose
• Proscar: four weeks after last dose
• Soriatane (Acitretin): three years after last dose
• Tegison: cannot donate

You may donate even if you have any of the following conditions:

• Allergies (no infection) 
• Asthma (no symptoms) 
• Cold sore, fever blister or canker sore
• Diabetes (if stable condition)
• Genital herpes (after lesions clear)
• Heart attack (one year after and no current symptoms or heart medication other than Aspirin)
• Heart surgery (one year after coronary artery bypass surgery (CABG) or angioplasty with no current symptoms or heart medication other than Aspirin) 
• Hemochromatosis
• Major/minor surgery (after healed and released from doctor’s care) 
• Pregnancy (six weeks after delivery)
• Stroke (six months after if no physical restrictions and no medications)
• Chlamydia, genital warts 
• Gonorrhea, syphilis and other venereal diseases (one year after healed) 

You are not eligible to donate it you have any of the following conditions:

• AIDS, or at risk for AIDS
• Blood disorders or bleeding tendencies
• Brain or spinal surgery that required a transplant of brain covering (dura mater)
• Cancer (basal cell, squamous cell skin cancers and keratosis), unless removed and healed 
• Colds, fever, flu, sore throat, cough, respiratory infection or headache 
• Creutzfeldt - Jakob disease (CJD). You cannot donate if a blood relative was diagnosed with this disease or if you are at an increased family risk of CJD.
• Hepatitis or undiagnosed jaundice after age 10
• Melanoma 
• Positive hepatitis test 

Do not donate blood if you have ever tested positive for HIV or if:

• You have ever injected yourself with drugs not prescribed by a physician.
• You are a man and had sexual contact with another man in the past 12 months.
• You have hemophilia or blood clotting disorder and received clotting factor concentrates.
• You have had sex for drugs or money since 1977.

If you have recently received a vaccination, you must wait a certain amount of time before donating blood again.

• Polio, mumps, rubeola (a type of measles) and smallpox: two weeks
• Rubella (a type of measles): four weeks
• Tetanus, diphtheria, flu and Hepatitis B: one day (if no reaction)

You are not eligible to donate if: 

• You spent time that adds up to three months or more in the U.K. from 1980 to 1996 (England, N. Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Isle of Man, Channel Islands, Gibraltar, Falkland Islands).
• You spent time that adds up to five years or more in European countries since 1980 (including time in the U.K. from 1980 to 1996).
• You were in an area affected by malaria (one-year deferral).
• You spent six months or more in military bases in Northern Europe from 1980 to 1990 or Southern Europe from 1980 to 1996.

• Body/ear piercing(s): One-year deferral unless piercing was performed with a sterile, single-use, disposable, skin-piercing needle, a piercing gun or a physician or nurse using a disposable needle and septic technique
• Infection due to any type of dental work 
• Hepatitis exposure: One-year deferral 
• Tattoo(s): One-week or one-year deferral depending on tattoo location