Difference Between Plasma Donation and Blood Donation
The donation of blood is a noble act because your blood can save many lives of other people. If you donate blood or blood plasma, you give another person a second chance to live because the blood is something that can’t be synthesized in laboratories. People who lose a lot of blood because of accidents require the blood of their group to survive. Then there are the people who are anemic or need their blood to be changed due to some serious health problems. In each circumstance, we can help these people if there are blood donors. Human blood is composed of many things such as water, gas, fat and plasma. Plasma is a straw-colored fluid that invented about half of our blood. The plasma is made up of Red Blood Cells and White Blood Cells along with platelets.
What do you mean by Blood donation?
The donation of blood is referred to in the manner due to the fact that the donor voluntarily allows blood to be taken from his veins to be used to save other people who require blood. The donation of blood is usually not paid within developed countries and is made with a sense of charity, but in poor countries, people give blood for money or other rewards. A person might also make donation of blood for their own future use as well. Before a person can give blood, the medical examination is done to ensure he is healthy and not suffering from some diseases such as AIDS, hepatitis and carbohydrate. The blood donation is not hazardous to health as the same quantity of blood is formed again in the body in 48 hours. In United States, a person can give blood only after 56 days of donation if the previously whole blood was taken, although he/she can again give plasma donation after one week.
The donated blood is usually stored in a blood bank for future use of another person who may need it in critical health problem or accident. It’s called allogenic donation. But when a person gives blood to save the life of a friend or family member, it is called a directed donation.
Plasma Donation
In contrast to the donation of blood, which is also known as whole blood donation, only here the plasma is taken from the blood of the donor and the remaining blood is put back into the body of the donor. The plasma is an important component of blood and is mainly made of proteins and water. This is essential for many body functions and therefore its lack in the body can cause serious health problems. We call the process of separating plasma from blood plasmapheresis. Although the process of whole blood donation and donation of plasma is very similar, in case of the donation of plasma, after the separation of plasma from blood, the blood is put back in the donor’s body.
Before making donation of plasma as well as blood, one must necessarily take a lot of water. You should eat foods rich in iron prior to the donation of blood as it helps in synthesis of blood after donation. Your health check is required prior to donation to ensure that your blood is safe and can be used for the treatment of another person.
The main difference between the donation of plasma and blood donation is that the plasma can be given frequently but the blood donation requires an interval of 56 days as recommended by Red Cross. This is because the red cells are returned in the body after the donation of plasma. In spite of all these differences, these are noble acts and we all must do it.