FAQ

Yes they are. The Ferrodan iron supplement given to blood donors does not contain iron or any other ingredients of animal origin. This sugar-, gluten- and lactose-free supplement is suitable for people with lactose-intolerance and celiac disease, and for vegans. The Ferrodan product is a Finnish dietary supplement that contains vitamin C, to improve its absorption, in addition to iron (ferrous fumarate).

You’ll find out your blood heamoglobin level when donating blood. We’ll let you know your blood type after your first donation.

We will only contact you if the test results suggest an infection. You should never come to donate blood in order to have your blood tested. Also, you should not donate blood if you suspect you may have been infected. Although the blood is already infectious, a recent infection is not visible in tests.

You have a right to know what has been entered in the Blood Service registry with regards to yourself. You can request your register data in connection with the donation if you have donated blood before. You can also send us a written and signed request. Please enter your personal identity code in the letter.

The use of an interpreter is possible only in case of sensory disability or autism spectrum disorder (ASD) – when the donor has an independent official interpreter available for his or her use.

A visually impaired person may be accompanied by a personal assistant, but the donor and the Blood Service nurse fill in the health status form together.

The safety of the blood donor and blood products is very important and therefore it is necessary that the donor understands what the Blood Service staff are communicating and vice versa.

Every donor must have the opportunity to independently fill in the health questionnaire and have the interview discussion with a Blood Service nurse. For these reasons, we have very precise requirements concerning language skills and the use of an interpreter. The blood donor must have good enough command of Finnish, Swedish or English to be able to understand the content of the information package distributed to blood donors and fill in the health questionnaire. In the interview, difficult points can be supplemented together with a nurse from the Blood Service.

Exercising or doing sport does not prevent blood donation, but there are a couple of things to consider regarding exercise as you plan the timing of your donation.

During blood donation approximately half a litre of blood is lost and this will affect your fluid balance for a short while.

On the other hand, the decrease in hemoglobin levels will affect your performance in strenuous exercise and physical endurance, both short and long term. You can do normal exercise the day after your donation. Returning to strenuous exercise or goal-directed personal best performance may, however, take around one month from blood donation.

To ensure the proper recovery of your fluid balance you cannot do strenuous exercise or sport that causes sweating or requires straining of the donation arm on the day of your donation. To make sure that your fluid balance is as optimal as possible, do not come to donate straight after very strenuous exercise.

Would you like more information? Please call the free information number for blood donors on 0800 0 5801 (Mon to Fri from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.).

Measuring the haemoglobin levels of potential blood donors is a regulatory requirement. The measurement ensures that the donor does not have anaemia, or in other words that their haemoglobin concentration is not too low. People can donate blood if their blood haemoglobin concentration is 125–175 g/l for women and 135–195 g/l for men. Donating blood lowers the haemoglobin concentration temporarily by 10–15 g/l. Blood donors lose iron while donating blood. Iron deficiency occurs most in the youngest female donors (18–25-year-olds). For this group, we recommend donating blood no more than once a year. For other women, we recommend a maximum of 2–3 donations a year and for men a maximum of 3–4 donations a year. Donation interval, rather than a factor such as the donor’s age or diet, is the strongest single indicator of iron levels. The Blood Service does not have exact requirements or recommendations concerning ferritin levels for potential blood donors who have had their ferritin levels measured independently. In terms of blood donation, the interpretation of ferritin levels depends on why the ferritin levels and iron stores have been investigated. If the levels have been measured for diagnostic purposes and low ferritin levels have been measured, the individual in question may not donate blood. On the other hand, an incidental finding of low ferritin levels in an asymptomatic person is not, in itself, an obstacle to donation. At the Blood Service, the prevention of harmful iron deficiency is based on the different recommended donation intervals for women and men (see above) and the minimum donation intervals (at least 91 days for women and at least 61 days for men), as well as on the administration of iron supplements to blood donors in the risk group (women under the age of 50 as well as all frequent donors). Blood donors must feel well; you may not donate blood if you feel exhausted or exceptionally tired. Diagnosed iron deficiency anaemia or other symptomatic condition associated with iron deficiency should be treated. You may donate blood when your condition has improved and you have been treated for iron deficiency at least for six months.

All in all, you should reserve from 30 minutes to an hour for the donation and coffee afterwards. If you are a first-timer, please reserve an hour for your donation visit.

A bag of blood fills up in approximately five to ten minutes.

In other words, donating blood is a really quick way to help and even save another person’s life!​

Approximately half a litre of blood is donated in one whole blood donation.

Young women between 18-25 years are recommended to donate blood only max. once a year, all other women max. 2-3 times per year and men max. 3-4 times per year.

The minimum interval between blood donations is 91 days for women and 61 days for men.

You can check your minimum interval date with the donation date calculator.

With regard to the donation of platelets, the donation interval is shorter because the red cells are returned to the donor’s circulation.  ​

You can check your next possible day of donation with the donation date calculator.

Blood volume will be replaced within a few hours and can be speeded up by drinking adequately on the day of the donation.

The red cell count will be the same in approximately three months. Red cells live for approximately 120 days or four months and regenerate constantly, regardless of blood donation.

Blood iron concentration recovers in approximately a couple of months.​ It’s important that blood donors get enough iron from their diet to replace the iron loss.

To prevent iron deficiency donors must have minimum intervals between donations, and donors in high risk are provided iron supplementation.

For women aged 18 to 25, we recommend only one donation per year. This is because blood donor studies have shown that young women have a particularly high risk of developing iron deficiency.

During a single donation, women lose as much as 60–100% of the iron contained in their iron reserves. The reserves are replenished slowly, and the purpose of this recommendation is to promote the replenishment of donors’ iron reserves.

Blood donation is safe and rarely causes any harm for a healthy person. The health questionnaire and interview aim to confirm that the donation is safe for the donor. The Blood Service is responsible for the donation being safe both for the donor and patient.

Blood donation may sometimes be related to some temporary symptoms or discomforts, mainly nausea or bruises. All blood donors are insured against adverse effects or accidents caused by blood donation.

Because needles and other equipment used for the blood collection are always disposable, you cannot be infected via blood donation.

The most important thing for the patient receiving the blood is that the blood donor is healthy. Because only a small portion of pathogens can be tested, the careful selection of donors is crucial for the safety of the patient. In addition to the measurement of haemoglobin and the determination of blood group, the blood samples taken in connection with donation are tested for the most important blood-borne infections (HIV, hepatitis A, B and C, syphilis).

However, if the donor has been infected very recently, this may not be visible in the laboratory tests and causes a small risk to the patient’s safety. The purpose of different-length waiting periods before donation is to prevent donation during this window period. However, the microbe safety of products can never be perfect.​

Having a body piercing prevents you from donating blood for four months. Ear piercing is also considered to be body piercing.

This obstacle to donation is based on European regulations intended to reduce the risk of becoming exposed to blood-borne hepatitis C and B viruses and HIV in a piercing situation.

See also: tattoos and pigmenting

Would you like more information? Please call the free information number for blood donors on 0800 0 5801 (Mon to Fri from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.).

A new sexual partner prevents blood donation for four months due to the risk of HIV infection. A sex partner refers to a person with whom you have had sexual intercourse or anal or oral sex.

Changing your sexual partner – for example, getting back together with an ex-partner – is considered the same as having a new sexual partner.

If you have had more than one sexual partner in the last four months, you cannot give blood. You can give blood again when you have had no more than one sexual partner in the last four months.

The selling and buying of sexual services prevents blood donation for four months.

Even though the use of condoms significantly reduces the risk of infection, it does not remove it entirely. This is why the use of condoms do not affect blood donation restrictions related to sexual contact.

Would you like more information? Please call the free information number for blood donors on 0800 0 5801 (Mon to Fri from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.).

Smoking or the use of smokeless tobacco do not prevent blood donation, nor does nicotine replacement therapy or medication used in support of trying to quit smoking. We don’t recommend smoking before or after blood donation.

Would you like more information? Please call the free information number for blood donors on 0800 0 5801 (Mon to Fri from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.).

If you know you will be undergoing major surgery within the next few months, you cannot donate blood.

Depending on the scope and type of surgery and speed of recovery from the procedure, surgical operations cause a one to six-month long obstacle to blood donation.

Endoscopic operations or endoscopies performed with flexible endoscopes (e.g. gastroscopy, colonoscopy and bronchoscopy) prevent blood donation for four months. Although no infections have ever been found involving poorly disinfected endoscopes in Finland, the Blood Service applies the pan-European practice of restricting blood donations in this respect.

Endoscopic operations and procedures of the joints are normally performed with a rigid endoscope and depending on the nature of the procedure, the deferral time is from 1 to 4 weeks. Very occasionally the deferral time may be 4 months, e.g. in a case of a larger knee operation, where recovery may take longer.

Minor procedures performed under local anaesthesia prevent blood donation for one to four weeks.

See also: dental care

Would you like more information? Please call the free information number for blood donors on 0800 0 5801 (Mon to Fri from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.)

Having tattoos or permanent pigmenting made prevent blood donation for four months. This obstacle to donation is based on European regulations intended to reduce the risk of becoming exposed to blood-borne C and B hepatitis viruses and the HI virus in a piercing situation. A cosmetic injection (e.g. lip filling) that has been done in Finland without a colouring agent does not prevent blood donation.

See also: piercing

​Would you like more information? Please call the free information number for blood donors on 0800 0 5801 (Mon to Fri from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.).

According to European regulations, a donor must weigh at least 50kg. This minimum weight requirement is necessary in order for the donor not to lose too large a share of their blood volume in the donation. Losing too much blood increases the risk of fainting and slows down recovery from the blood donation.

In order to be able to donate blood, you can weigh no more than 200 kg. The maximum weight is due to the carrying capacity of our donation beds.

Would you like more information? Please call the free information number for blood donors on 0800 0 5801 (Mon to Fri from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.).

In Finland, blood donation has always been based on voluntary, unpaid activity and these factors still form the basis of safe blood transfusions.

If compensation were to be paid for blood, it might also attract people who are not motivated to help others. Some might leave crucial matters out of the health questionnaire and the interview.

The legislation regarding blood service operations in Finland prohibits payment for blood donation.

The minimum weight requirement is based on blood volyme.

The human body contains approximately five litres of blood. For safety reasons, the blood extracted for a donation, which totals around half a litre, may not exceed 10% of the total blood in the body.

The amount of blood in the body depends on your body weight, and for those weighing under 50 kg it is so small that donating increases the risk of post-donation complications such as faintness, nausea or dizziness.

The same weight limit is given in many international recommendations and is mentioned in the European Blood Directive, with which all Member States must comply.​