Side effects of donating plasma

Of course you've heard about donating blood, but have you heard about donating plasma?

What is plasma used for

Let us back up a bit: Do you even know what plasma is? Yup, thought so. A brief explainer: Plasma is the liquid portion of your blood, and your red and white blood cells float in plasma, along with a variety of different nutrients and proteins that are required to live a healthy life.

Whereas donated blood is used to build up blood volume for patients in need, plasma transfusions are also very necessary because they're often used to help with coagulation (a.k.a.

clotting) in trauma patients suffering from severe blood loss, says Tho D. Pham, M.D., clinical assistant professor in the department of pathology at Stanford University School of Medicine. He explains that plasma contains a key protein that helps clot blood and stop bleeding.

While there is a need for all blood types to donate plasma, the greatest need is for donations from people whose blood type is AB, which makes them a universal donor of plasma.

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