How Does Hair Drug Test Work?
Hair drug test has been shown to provide accurate results for a longer duration in drug testing over urine and saliva. The test collects a small amount of hair from your body for analysis by SmarTest Labs trained specialists. Most often head hair is the preferred collection of samples but if there is no head hair body hair can be used but is not a common method of collection.
The hair is then analyzed by the laboratory using a strict chain of custody to determine the number of drugs present in the body. Hair drug tests could be customized depending on the requestor. The tests vary from 1 panel to as many as 21 panels.
Drugs tested for e.g. in a 5-panel include Cocaine, Amphetamines, Marijuana, Opiates, Phencyclidine. If the test indicates a positive result, the sample is sent for further validation by a trained physician. This process of testing provides a cross reference in the accuracy and independence of the analysis process. The same process is adopted for 10 panels of hair tests, 12 panels and more.
Why Choose a Hair Drug Test?
Most drug tests have a shorter duration of retention in the human body. Hair tests have a retention between 7 days to 90 days. There are many reasons for conducting a hair drug test.
Companies and employers in safety sensitive industries are being more careful with employee safety and have increased their requests for hair drug tests due to the retention period of 90 days.
Personal Reasons – There are individuals who want to know about either employment, legal or just knowing about friends, family members using drugs.
Factors Affecting Hair Drug Testing
Hair drug testing is accurate and has very little risk of contamination. The longer detection time in relation to using urine provides better results of chronic drug use. Urine and saliva tests go back a few days which could mean the use of drugs in the test could be missed due to the timeframe of the test.
SmarTest Labs provides accurate drug testing under a strict chain of control. We are AABB certified for hair drug tests and headquartered in Maryland and serving Virginia, WA DC and surrounding areas. We are conveniently located near you.
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