Urine| Hair Follicle | Oral Fluid | Blood | ETG
Hair testing has emerged as a significant means for identifying drug and alcohol consumption. Hair holds a prolonged record of substance usage by capturing biomarkers within the fibers of the hair shaft as it grows. When clipped near the scalp, hair can present an approximately 3-month window of detection for alcohol and substances. It is straightforward to collect, somewhat resistant to tampering, and convenient to ship.
A 1.5-inch section of about 200 hairs (comparable to a #2 pencil in size) adjacent to the scalp will yield 100mg of hair, which is the ideal sample for both screening and confirmation. For EtG, additional testing, and/or screenings exceeding 10 panels, a 150mg specimen is advised. The specimen is best measured using a jeweler’s scale. In the absence of scalp hair, a comparable amount of body hair may be collected. When addressing head hair, it specifically pertains to scalp hair. Body hair encompasses all other hair types (facial, axillary, etc.).
Process Overview
The primary steps in laboratory processing of a drug test result include Accessioning, Screening, Extraction, and Confirmation.
Accessioning includes the initial processing of a specimen into a lab’s system. This step ensures the sample’s seal and shipment were accurate, assigns a random LAN (Laboratory Accessioning Number), and performs any supplemental data entry absent from an electronic chain of custody system.
Screening consists of a preliminary rapid check for substance misuse. While being a cost-efficient technique to exclude drug usage for most samples, a positive screen must be confirmed for courtroom admissibility. Samples presumptively positive in Screening necessitate a secondary confirmation.
If a sample is flagged as presumptively positive during Screening, additional hair is collected from the original sample and readied for Extraction. In this stage, drugs are extracted from hair at significantly lower concentrations than in alternative methodologies (ex. urine or oral fluid), establishing hair drug screening as the most challenging methodology to conduct.
Positive screening results undergo Confirmation through GC/MS, GC/MS/MS, or LC/MS/MS. All samples identified as presumptive positive are washed before confirmation if necessary. The comprehensive laboratory process from Accessioning to Confirmation is scrutinized under both the CAP (College of American Pathologists) Hair designation and accreditation to ISO / IEC 17025 standards.
Advantages of hair drug testing:
Limitations:
Note: Though often called "hair follicle tests", the analysis is performed on the hair strand, not the follicle beneath the scalp.
Why Hair Follicle Testing Beats Urine Testing in La Verkin, UT
Extended Detection Window in La Verkin, UT
Tamper-Resistant Testing Method in La Verkin, UT
Convenient Nationwide Testing Locations and Local Locations in La Verkin, UT
Simple, Confidential Process in La Verkin, UT
Affordable Pricing and Fast Turnaround in La Verkin, UT
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