Allergy

Allergic rhinitis, allergic conjunctivitis, anaphylaxis, hay fever and urticaria.

Ensure:
Procedures will not expose the donor to something they are allergic to, e.g. constituents of the arm cleaning preparation.

Must not donate if:
a) Has severe symptoms due to an allergy or to the medication they are taking.

b) The donor has taken oral or injected steroids within the last seven days.

a) Donors taking medication, other than oral or injected steroids (including antihistamines, eye drops or intranasal steroids e.g. beclometasone (Beconase^®)), or with a history of allergy or anaphylaxis (including those who carry adrenaline/epinephrine for self administration, e.g. Anapen^® or EpiPen^®), provided they are well on the day and will not be exposed to anything they are allergic to, accept.

b) Nickel allergy, accept.

c) Donors undergoing desensitisation treatment for hay fever or for allergy to an insect sting, providing they are not experiencing any systemic or local reactions to the treatment, and are well on the day, accept.

Asthma
Dermatitis
Steroid Therapy

Any person who is unwell should not be accepted as a donor. This is to ensure that a serious underlying condition, that could be a risk either to the donor or to a potential recipient, is not missed. For this reason, a potential donor with anything other than minor symptoms related to an allergy should not be accepted.

Severe systemic reactions are not seen with nickel 'allergy'.

The list of potential allergens has been reworded. A reference to allergic conjunctivitis has been added. Clarification of the acceptance criteria for desensitisation treatment has been added. The link to ‘Coeliac Disease’ has been removed.

If you wish to obtain more information regarding a personal medical issue please contact your National Help Line.

Please do not contact this web site for personal medical queries, as we are not in a position to provide individual answers.