Urine| Hair Follicle | Oral Fluid | Blood | ETG
Hair examinations stand as an effective means for identifying substance and alcohol consumption. Hair captures a prolonged record of alcohol and drugs by embedding biomarkers within the hair strand’s fibers. When collected near the scalp, hair offers approximately a 3-month detection period for alcohol and drugs. Hair is easy to obtain, hard to tamper with, and simple to transport.
A 1.5-inch segment comprising roughly 200 hairs (comparable in size to a #2 pencil) nearest to the scalp can yield 100 mg of hair, the optimal sample for analysis and verification. For EtG, supplementary tests, and/or evaluations exceeding 10 panels, a 150 mg specimen is advised. It is suggested to measure the specimen with a jeweler’s scale. If scalp hair isn’t accessible, an equivalent quantity of body hair can be gathered. When referring to head hair, it denotes scalp hair exclusively. Body hair pertains to all other hair types (facial, axillary, etc.).
Process Overview
The four pivotal steps in the laboratory examination of a drug test outcome include Accessioning, Screening, Extraction, and Confirmation.
Accessioning covers the initial handling of a sample into a lab’s system. This encompasses confirming that the sample was correctly sealed and shipped, allocating a random LAN (Laboratory Accessioning Number), and fulfilling any additional data entry absent from an electronic chain of custody system.
Screening entails an initial swift assessment for drugs of misuse. Though Screening is an economical method to exclude drug presence in most samples, a screen that is positive must be verified to be permissible in court. Any samples that appear positive in Screening necessitate a secondary confirmation.
If a sample appears positive during the Screening phase, additional hair is extracted from the original sample and readied for Extraction. At this stage, drugs are isolated from hair at a much lower concentration than other methods (e.g., urine or oral fluid), indicating why hair drug screening is the most challenging procedure to execute.
Confirmation of any positive screening outcome is executed through GC/MS, GC/MS/MS, or LC/MS/MS. All potentially positive samples are cleansed before confirmation if required. The entire laboratory process from Accessioning to Confirmation undergoes review under both the CAP (College of American Pathologists) Hair designation and the accreditation to ISO / IEC 17025 criteria.
Advantages of hair drug testing:
Limitations:
Note: Though often called "hair follicle tests", the test itself examines the hair strand and not the follicle underneath the scalp
When comparing hair follicle tests to traditional urine tests in Bergholtz, NY, the advantages become evident.
Employers in Bergholtz, NY, benefit from hair follicle testing due to its extended detection window of up to 90 days.
In Bergholtz, NY, hair follicle testing is touted for its tamper-resistant nature.
Residents and companies in Bergholtz, NY benefit from convenient testing locations.
The process in Bergholtz, NY is simple and confidential, addressing privacy concerns.
Our services in Bergholtz, NY offer affordable pricing and rapid turnaround times.
In Bergholtz, NY, hair follicle drug tests stand out for their speed and precision.
For Bergholtz, NY employers, compliance and peace of mind are achieved with hair follicle testing.