Recovery and time between donations Donors are usually kept at the donation site for 10?15 minutes after donating since most adverse reactions take place during or immediately after the donation. [49] Blood centers typically provide light refreshments such as tea and biscuits or a lunch allowance to help the donor recover.[50] The needle site is covered with a bandage and the donor is directed to keep the bandage on for several hours.[1] Donated plasma is replaced after 2-3 days.[51] Red blood cells are replaced by bone marrow into the circulatory system at a slower rate, on average 36 days in healthy adult males. In that study, the range was 20 to 59 days for recovery.[52] These replacement rates are the basis of how frequently a donor can give blood. Plasmapheresis and plateletpheresis donors can give much more frequently because they do not lose significant amounts of red cells. The exact rate of how often a donor can donate differs from country to country. For example, plasma donors in the United States are allowed to donate large volumes twice a week and could nominally give 83 liters (about 22 gallons) in a year, whereas the same donor in Japan may only donate every other week and could only donate about 16 liters (about 4 gallons) in a year.[53] Red blood cells are the limiting step for whole blood donations, and the frequency of donation varies widely. In Hong Kong it is from three to six months,[54] in Australia it is twelve weeks, [55] in the United States it is eight weeks [56] and in the UK it is usually sixteen weeks but can be as little as twelve.[57]
