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By World Longevity Clinics Editorial Team LADbible: Joe Rogan shares bizarre image as he reveals what has been 'pulled out of his blood'

Joe Rogan Tries Plasmapheresis at Austin Longevity Clinic — What Is It, and Should You Consider It?

Joe Rogan underwent plasmapheresis at Ways2Well in Austin, calling it 'changing the oil in your body.' The FDA-approved procedure is gaining traction in longevity clinics. Here's what it is, the evidence, costs, and whether it's right for you.

“We treat longevity-clinic claims as medical decisions, not wellness slogans: every guide separates peer-reviewed evidence, regulatory status, pricing transparency, and patient safety before recommending a clinic.” — World Longevity Clinics Editorial Team
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On March 27, 2026, Joe Rogan posted a photo on Instagram clutching three bags of bright orange liquid and sporting a massive grin. The caption? “Went down to @Ways2Well and did plasmapheresis. This is the stuff they pulled out of my blood.”1

Within hours, the post went viral. Comments ranged from “I thought you discovered the world’s best orange juice” to “Isn’t this what your liver and kidneys do for free?” Ben Greenfield jumped into the conversation on X, noting that most commenters were confusing dialysis, plasmapheresis, plasma exchange, and “young blood” treatments: “These are NOT the same thing. Not even close.”

But Rogan was serious. He described plasmapheresis as “changing the oil in your body” — a medical procedure that filters out inflammatory proteins, toxins, and byproducts from your blood plasma and replaces it with clean fluid.

His rationale? Friends who’d tried it reported better sleep scores and markedly improved recovery. He wanted to see if it would do the same for him.

The kicker: A single session at Ways2Well in Austin, Texas, costs an estimated $10,000+ and takes up to 120 minutes.2

What Is Plasmapheresis?

Plasmapheresis (also called therapeutic plasma exchange or TPE) is a medical procedure that removes blood from your body, separates the plasma (the liquid component) from blood cells, discards or processes the plasma, and returns the blood cells along with replacement fluid (either donor plasma, albumin, or saline).3

How it works:

  1. Blood withdrawal — Blood is drawn from a vein, typically in your arm
  2. Plasma separation — The blood passes through a centrifuge or membrane filter that separates plasma (which contains proteins, antibodies, toxins, inflammatory factors) from red blood cells, white blood cells, and platelets
  3. Plasma removal — The separated plasma is discarded or selectively filtered
  4. Replacement — Clean blood cells are returned to your body along with replacement fluid (donor plasma, albumin, or saline)
  5. Return — The reconstituted blood flows back into your bloodstream

A typical session takes 90-120 minutes and filters approximately 3-4 liters of plasma (roughly one full plasma volume).

What gets removed:

  • Inflammatory cytokines (IL-6, TNF-α, IL-1β)
  • Autoantibodies (in autoimmune diseases)
  • Immune complexes
  • Metabolic waste products
  • Toxins and byproducts

What stays:

  • Red blood cells (oxygen carriers)
  • White blood cells (immune cells)
  • Platelets (clotting factors)

FDA-Approved Uses: Plasmapheresis in Conventional Medicine

Plasmapheresis is FDA-approved and medically validated for dozens of conditions where harmful substances in the blood drive disease progression.

The American Society for Apheresis (ASFA) categorizes indications into four groups:3

Category 1 (First-Line Treatment):

  • Guillain-Barré syndrome — Acute autoimmune nerve damage
  • Myasthenia gravis — Autoimmune disorder causing muscle weakness
  • Thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura (TTP) — Life-threatening blood clotting disorder
  • Anti-GBM disease (Goodpasture syndrome) — Autoimmune kidney and lung disease
  • Chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy (CIDP)
  • Hyperviscosity in monoclonal gammopathies — Blood too thick due to excess antibodies
  • Kidney transplant desensitization — Removing donor-incompatible antibodies

Category 2 (Second-Line Treatment):

  • Systemic lupus erythematosus (severe)
  • Multiple sclerosis (acute relapse)
  • Catastrophic antiphospholipid syndrome
  • Cryoglobulinemia
  • Lambert-Eaton myasthenic syndrome

Category 3 (Individualized, Weak Evidence):

  • Acute liver failure
  • Hemolytic uremic syndrome
  • HELLP syndrome (postpartum)
  • Henoch-Schönlein purpura
  • Sepsis with multiorgan failure
  • Lupus nephritis
  • Dermatomyositis/polymyositis

Plasmapheresis is a proven, life-saving intervention for autoimmune and hematologic diseases. It is not FDA-approved for general anti-aging or wellness use. Longevity clinics offering it for optimization are doing so off-label.

Plasmapheresis for Longevity: The Evidence

The rationale for offering plasmapheresis to healthy people comes from animal studies and early-stage human trials suggesting that removing aged or dysfunctional plasma factors can rejuvenate tissues and slow biological aging.

The Animal Data: Young Blood, Old Blood

Several preclinical studies have shown that blood composition changes with age — and that manipulating it can reverse age-related decline:

  • Heterochronic parabiosis (2005): When old mice were surgically joined to young mice (sharing circulation), the old mice showed improved muscle regeneration, liver function, and neurogenesis. The young mice showed accelerated aging.4
  • Young plasma infusions (2014): Injecting old mice with plasma from young mice improved cognitive function, neurogenesis, and muscle repair.5
  • Dilution studies (2020): Simply diluting old mouse plasma with saline + albumin (no young blood required) was sufficient to rejuvenate liver, muscle, brain, and blood cells. This suggested that removing pro-aging factors matters more than adding youthful factors.6

In mice, the aging plasma environment contains circulating factors that suppress regeneration. Removing or diluting them can restore youthful function.

The Human Data: Biological Age Reversal?

In 2025, researchers published the first controlled human trial of plasmapheresis for anti-aging.78

Study design:

  • 18 healthy participants aged 40-74
  • Intervention: Therapeutic plasma exchange (TPE) + intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIg) replacement
  • Frequency: Multiple rounds over several weeks
  • Outcomes measured: Epigenetic age (DNA methylation clocks), proteomics, metabolomics

Results:

  • Biological age reduced by 2.6 years on average (GrimAge clock)
  • Proteomic shift: Global change toward a younger systemic proteome, including restored pro-regenerative and anti-cancer proteins
  • Inflammatory markers decreased: Reduction in age-associated inflammatory cytokines
  • Safety: No serious adverse events

A separate 2025 trial confirmed that plasmapheresis reduced DNA methylation age and shifted biomarkers toward a younger profile, though the magnitude varied by individual.9

Important caveats:

  • Small sample size (18 participants in the primary trial)
  • No long-term follow-up (unknown durability of effects)
  • Unclear whether benefits translate to functional outcomes (strength, cognition, lifespan)
  • Unknown optimal frequency: monthly? quarterly? annually?
  • Unknown long-term safety of repeated plasma removal

The early human data is promising but preliminary. Plasmapheresis appears to reduce biological age markers in the short term, but we don’t yet know if this translates to meaningful health or longevity gains.

What Longevity Clinics Are Offering (and What It Costs)

Several high-end longevity clinics now offer plasmapheresis as part of their optimization programs.

Ways2Well (Austin, Texas)

  • Where Joe Rogan underwent the procedure
  • Service: Plasmapheresis + advanced diagnostics, physician-guided treatment plans
  • Duration: Up to 120 minutes per session
  • Cost: Estimated $10,000+ per session2
  • Approach: Removes inflammatory plasma, replaces with albumin or donor plasma

Other Clinics Offering Plasmapheresis:

  • Fountain Life (multiple U.S. locations) — Advanced diagnostics and regenerative therapies
  • Next Health (Los Angeles, New York) — IV therapies and blood optimization
  • European longevity clinics — Select locations, typically $15k-$30k per round

Cost range: $8,000 - $30,000 per session, depending on clinic, replacement fluid, and add-on diagnostics.

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Who Should (and Shouldn’t) Consider Plasmapheresis

Reasonable Candidates:

  • Patients with FDA-approved indications (Guillain-Barre, myasthenia gravis, lupus, etc.), where insurance may cover it
  • People with elevated inflammatory markers (CRP, IL-6, fibrinogen) unresponsive to lifestyle interventions
  • Those already optimizing foundational health (sleep, nutrition, exercise, stress management) and willing to invest in experimental longevity interventions

Contraindications:

  • Bleeding disorders or anticoagulant use (warfarin, heparin)
  • Hypotension or hemodynamic instability
  • Severe cardiovascular disease or recent heart attack/stroke
  • Pregnancy

Safety Considerations and Risks

While plasmapheresis is safe when performed in medical settings, it’s not risk-free:

Common side effects:

  • Hypotension (low blood pressure) — due to fluid shifts
  • Hypocalcemia (low calcium) — citrate used to prevent clotting binds calcium
  • Paresthesias (tingling) — due to calcium shifts
  • Nausea, lightheadedness, fatigue
  • Allergic reactions — to replacement fluids (rare)

Serious complications (rare):

  • Hemorrhage — if clotting factors are depleted
  • Infection — from IV access
  • Thromboembolism — blood clots
  • Electrolyte imbalances — hypokalemia, hypomagnesemia
  • Fluid overload or depletion

Long-term concerns:

  • Immune suppression? — Removing immunoglobulins repeatedly may weaken immune function
  • Nutrient depletion? — Albumin and binding proteins carry vitamins and hormones
  • Unknown cumulative effects — no long-term safety data for repeated wellness use

Recommendation: Only undergo plasmapheresis under physician supervision with baseline labs, contraindication screening, and post-procedure monitoring.

Alternatives With Stronger Evidence

Other interventions targeting similar inflammatory and aging pathways, at a range of price points:

1. Lifestyle Optimization

  • Mediterranean diet — Reduces CRP, IL-6, oxidative stress
  • Exercise — 150 min/week reduces systemic inflammation10
  • Sleep — 7-9 hours/night regulates inflammatory cytokines
  • Stress management — Meditation, breathwork lower cortisol and inflammation
  • Cost: Free

2. Senolytics

  • Dasatinib + quercetin (D+Q) — Reduces senescent cells and SASP factors (see our senolytics deep dive)
  • Cost: $500-$2,000 per round at longevity clinics
  • Evidence: Human trials show reduction in inflammatory markers, promising for healthspan

3. NAD+ Precursors

  • NMN, NR — Boost cellular energy, DNA repair, mitochondrial function
  • Cost: $50-$150/month (supplements) or $500-$1,500 (IV NAD+ at clinics)
  • Evidence: Human trials show improved metabolic markers (see our NAD+ review)

4. Rapamycin (Off-Label)

  • mTOR inhibitor — Proven lifespan extension in animals, ongoing human trials
  • Cost: $50-$200/month (prescription required)
  • Evidence: Strong preclinical data, early human trials promising

5. Stem Cell Therapy

  • MSCs, exosomes — Regenerative capacity, anti-inflammatory effects
  • Cost: $5,000-$50,000 depending on protocol and location
  • Evidence: See our best stem cell therapy clinics guide

The Bottom Line

Plasmapheresis is one of the most scientifically intriguing interventions in longevity medicine. The animal data are compelling, the first human trial shows a 2.6-year biological age reduction on DNA methylation clocks, and the mechanism is plausible. But it remains expensive, experimental, and unproven for extending healthspan or lifespan in humans.

If you’re interested, find a clinic with physician oversight, baseline labs, and proper monitoring. Treat it as Rogan is: an n=1 experiment, not a proven therapy.

Primary source: LADbible: Joe Rogan shares bizarre image as he reveals what has been ‘pulled out of his blood’ (Source: LADbible, 2026).

Footnotes

  1. LADbible (2026). “Joe Rogan shares bizarre image as he reveals what has been ‘pulled out of his blood.’” Link ↩

  2. Marca (2026). “The radical $10,000 method Joe Rogan uses in pursuit of eternal youth.” Link ↩ ↩2

  3. NCBI StatPearls (2023). “Plasmapheresis.” Link ↩ ↩2

  4. Conboy IM, et al. (2005). “Rejuvenation of aged progenitor cells by exposure to a young systemic environment.” Nature, 433(7027):760-4. PubMed ↩

  5. Villeda SA, et al. (2014). “Young blood reverses age-related impairments in cognitive function and synaptic plasticity in mice.” Nature Medicine, 20(6):659-63. PubMed ↩

  6. Mehdipour M, et al. (2020). “Rejuvenation of three germ layers tissues by exchanging old blood plasma with saline-albumin.” Aging, 12(10):8790-8819. PubMed ↩

  7. Buck Institute (2025). “Clinical Trial and Multi-omics Analysis Demonstrates the Impact of Therapeutic Plasma Exchange on Biological Age.” Link ↩

  8. New York Times (2025). “Can This Trendy Anti-Aging Treatment Really Help You Live Longer?” Link ↩

  9. PMC (2025). “Human clinical trial of plasmapheresis effects on biomarkers of aging (efficacy and safety trial).” Link ↩

  10. Petersen AMW, Pedersen BK (2005). “The anti-inflammatory effect of exercise.” Journal of Applied Physiology, 98(4):1154-62. PubMed ↩