There have been some reports on the risk of developing hemosiderosis in hemodialysis patients when heavily transfused and simultaneously possessing hemochromatosis alleles (HA). We evaluated 99 patients on chronic hemodialysis estimating their serum ferritin (SF) levels, transfusion rate, and prevalence of HLA A3, B7 and B14 alleles, which are considered to be more frequent in idiopathic hemochromatosis. We analyzed the patients as a whole group and also separately as low or high transfusion groups. There was no correlation between the number of HA and the mean SF levels. The presence of HA is not a risk factor for the development of hemosiderosis when excessive transfusions and parenteral iron administration are avoided.