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 (one year after if no physical restrictions and no medications)
• Chlamydia, genital warts (if treated)
• Gonorrhea, syphilis and other venereal diseases (one year after healed) 

You are not eligible to donate if 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 
• Hepatitis or undiagnosed jaundice after age 10
• Melanoma (Must wait five years and obtain pathology approval)
• 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 3 months
• You have hemophilia or blood clotting disorder and received clotting factor concentrates

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)

• Body/ear piercing(s): Three month 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: Permanent deferral if viral hepatitis at age 11 or over. Close contact i.e., living in the same house, accept if asymptomatic hepatitis C, defer for 12 months if hepatitis A or B, or symptomatic hepatitis C.
• Tattoo(s): Three month deferral depending on tattoo state location