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Are you that kind of person who celebrates milestones of your life with getting a tattoo? These milestones could be anything, including the things you achieved, or the things you could not achieve but taught you a lesson. If you are this person, then you must have wondered if you can donate blood with all the tattoos on your body? There are lots of rumors on how can one donate blood, or if at all they are allowed to donate blood. So let's get into its nitty gritty!
As per American Red Cross, in most states, a tattoo is acceptable if the tattoo was applied by a state-regulated entity. Which means the tattoo artist must be licensed and must practice following all the guidelines, using sterile needles and ink that is not reused. The same is the guideline for cosmetic tattoos, which includes microblading of eyebrows. If it is done by a licensed artist in a regulated state, then it is acceptable.
However, if you got your tattoo in a state that does not regulate tattoo facilities, you must wait three months after it was applied.
Similar is the case with body piercings. It has to be done following the regulation, here the key is that the instrument used has to be a single-use equipment and disposable. Which means if you are getting it by a gun, or an earring cassette, they have to be disposable. In case you got your piercing with a reusable gun or a reusable instrument, you will be required to wait for three months.
The reason behind the wait time is associated with the concerns of hepatitis, which could be easily transmitted from donors to patients through transfusion. All blood donations are thus tested for hepatitis B and hepatitis C, with several tests. However, not always are these tests are perfect, thus the three-month period is given.
Donating blood after getting a tattoo can be dangerous as unclean tattoo needle could carry bloodborne viruses, which are hepatitis B, hepatitis C and HIV. In 2020, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) updated its guideline, making the wait time shorter from one year to three months. This is because if you contract a bloodborne illness, it could be detectable within the period of 3 months.
There are other reasons why you may not be allowed to donate blood. As per the American Red Cross, you are not allowed to donate blood if you have
As per the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Blood Bank, these conditions make you permanently ineligible from donating blood.
While there are certain conditions that makes your permanently ineligible, there are other conditions that makes you temporarily ineligible from donating blood. These include:
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For many women, polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) begins with a familiar story—irregular periods, acne, unwanted hair growth or difficulty conceiving. But PCOS is far more than a reproductive disorder. At its core, it is often a complex interplay between metabolism, hormones and reproductive health.
One of the most important, yet frequently overlooked, pieces of this puzzle is insulin resistance. When the body becomes less responsive to insulin, the pancreas compensates by producing more.
Elevated insulin levels can, in turn, contribute to increased androgen production by the ovaries and disrupt the delicate hormonal signals required for regular ovulation. The result may be irregular cycles, fewer ovulations and, for some women, difficulty becoming pregnant.
PCOS And Insulin Resistance Can Affect Women Of Any Weight
Importantly, PCOS and insulin resistance are not synonymous with obesity. Women with a healthy body weight can also have significant metabolic abnormalities. This is why judging metabolic health by appearance alone can be misleading.
The 2023 International Evidence-based PCOS Guideline recognises insulin resistance as an important underlying feature and recommends attention to metabolic risk across the weight spectrum.
Also read: Decoding The Fertility Markers
The Metabolic Risks Go Beyond Fertility
The metabolic implications extend well beyond fertility. Women with PCOS have a higher risk of impaired glucose tolerance and type 2 diabetes, making long-term metabolic surveillance an important part of care.
The guideline recommends appropriate glycaemic assessment, particularly when pregnancy is being planned or fertility treatment is being considered.
Also read: Can Regular Consumption of Junk and Processed Food Affect Fertility?
Building A Healthier Foundation For Pregnancy
Yet there is an equally important message of hope: PCOS does not mean infertility, nor does it have to define a woman’s health journey. Lifestyle interventions—including regular physical activity, nutritious eating, adequate sleep and sustainable weight management where appropriate—form the foundation of care and can improve metabolic health.
For a woman planning pregnancy, the goal should not simply be to “get pregnant.” It should be to enter pregnancy metabolically and emotionally healthier, with blood sugar, blood pressure, nutrition, lifestyle and other risk factors appropriately addressed.
Take-home message: PCOS is not merely about irregular periods or cysts on the ovaries. It is a lifelong condition in which metabolic health and reproductive health are deeply connected. Recognising insulin resistance early, looking beyond weight, and providing personalised care can help women protect both their fertility today and their health for years to come.
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The view generally is that the occurrence of knee issues is usually associated with age, injury or overexertion. However, there is another reason people ignore: lack of movement. If a person leads an inactive lifestyle, spending long hours sitting at a desk, working from the couch, watching TV or doing nothing physical, the eventual consequences for the knees might arise.
Knees are created for motion, and motion is essential for keeping the flexibility of a joint. Their effective functioning depends on the health of the muscles surrounding your knee. The less active various leg muscles are, including quadriceps and other counterparts, the weaker they will be. The muscles help stabilize the knee and can relieve it from some of the burdens during daily activities performed by the knees.
Remaining seated for an extended time can also lead to stiffness. When you sit for a while, you may feel uncomfortable or stiff in your knees when you finally stand up. While the occasional instance of stiffness may go away with movement, constant stiffness can impact mobility and cause people to wish to move even less.
Another issue is gaining weight. Living a sedentary lifestyle causes individuals to become heavier, and excess weight puts more stress on the knees. In time, this added pressure will lead to increased wear of the joints and the development of knee pain and other problems in the musculoskeletal system.
The positive aspect with respect to your knees is that you don’t have to put in hours at the gym to keep them safe. Small, steady efforts can easily do the trick. You can choose to walk for five minutes after being seated for a long time, stretch regularly, take stairs if you are physically able and do some simple workouts for the legs and thighs to increase strength. Low-impact sports such as swimming, cycling and walking can help you maintain muscle power and flexible joints while avoiding the stress on your knees resulting from extensive workouts.
Persistent pain in the knee, however, cannot be treated as a usual symptom of ageing. Knee swelling or prolonged stiffness, difficulties climbing stairs, instability, or pain that has an impact on routine activities should be addressed by health professionals.
Movement is necessary for knees to be strong and flexible. Therefore, if you want your knees to be strong, you need to use them consistently and perform all activities without remaining still for long.
(By Dr Sujoy Bhattacharjee, Chairman & Chief, Max Institute of Robotic Joint Replacement, Max Super Speciality Hospital, Saket)
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Blocked ears are one of the most common and irritating problems associated with air travel.
While the sensation usually resolves on its own shortly after landing, for 22-year-old Aida Burkins from California, it persisted and eventually led to a frightening diagnosis of rare head and neck cancer.
Burkins was travelling to Chicago in May 2025 when her ears became blocked. When she returned home, her ears still hadn’t popped.
She later developed unusual symptoms, including hearing loss and bleeding from her throat.
“I started bleeding into my throat, which would only come out of my nose if I was bent at the hip at about 90 degrees,” the 22-year-old told Newsweek. “My hearing got worse and worse. Then I started getting more tired and losing weight.”
When Burkins sought medical help, her condition was initially dismissed as “just altitude sickness.” After several months, her hearing had deteriorated significantly.
“Everything sounded so muffled, and I had a ringing that wouldn’t go away,” she said.
Burkins eventually saw an ear, nose, and throat (ENT) specialist, who discovered a mass and noted that her adenoids — soft tissue in the throat, just behind the nose — were inflamed.
“The doctor told me he had never seen anything quite like what I had going on. He couldn’t be sure it was cancer, but he said it was very suspicious,” she told the outlet.
In February 2026, after undergoing CT scans and two biopsies, Burkins learned that she had a widespread tumour affecting the cervical lymph nodes near the base of her skull.
She was diagnosed with nasopharyngeal carcinoma, a rare type of head and neck cancer that starts in the upper part of the throat behind the nose and near the base of the skull, according to the American Cancer Society.
“Hearing I have cancer, all I thought about was not being able to see my babies grow up or do the things they want to do in life. It was horrifying,” Burkins, who is a mother to a 1-year-old and 3-year-old.
Burkins has since undergone months of chemotherapy and radiation. She is now finishing her treatment and hopes to be cancer-free soon as her body is responding well to the treatments.
According to the Mayo Clinic, nasopharyngeal carcinoma is a cancer that starts as a growth of cells in the nasopharynx, the upper part of the throat located behind the nose.
The cancer is rare in the United States and occurs much more often in other parts of the world, particularly Southeast Asia.
Nasopharyngeal carcinoma can be difficult to detect early because the nasopharynx is not easy to examine and there may be no symptoms initially.
When symptoms do occur, they present non-classic signs which include:
Treatment for nasopharyngeal carcinoma usually involves radiation therapy, chemotherapy, or a combination of the two, depending on the cancer and the individual patient.
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