Why is follicle test done

Select personalised content. Create a personalised content profile. Measure ad performance. Select basic ads. Create a personalised ads profile. Select personalised ads. Apply market research to generate audience insights. Measure content performance. Develop and improve products. List of Partners vendors. A hair follicle drug test is used to screen for the abuse of prescription drugs, alcohol, or illegal substances such as cocaine.

While blood or urine tests are typically more commonly used when testing for drugs, the hair follicle test has garnered some popularity in recent years. A large part of the allure of the hair follicle test is that drugs remain detectable in your hair follicles for up to 90 days, which is longer than in your urine, blood, or saliva.

For instance, if you had a history of drug abuse and recently started trying to get clean, it will pick up on that. If you consume or use a drug, your body creates something called a drug metabolite. A hair follicle test is designed to pick up on this drug metabolite or the drug itself. You might find it curious that a drug you consume orally or through your nasal cavity can be detected through your hair follicles. From your bloodstream, it begins to make its way through your entire body and this includes your hair.

It is not actually a hair follicle test. Hair drug testing uses the first inch and a half of growth from the base and roughly strands, to determine any drug use within the past approximately 7 to 90 days. When a person ingests a drug, it enters into the bloodstream while the body simultaneously metabolizes the drug, causing those metabolites to circulate through the blood as well.

Hair drug testing has also become popular for workplace drug testing for potential hires. Although more expensive than urine drug testing, it may be more effective, long term, to do the more expensive test than to hire a substance abuser. The hair drug test can detect drugs going back approximately 7 to 90 days; this drug test is also difficult to cheat, adulterate or substitute.

With the urine drug test, the applicant or employee might refrain from drug use for five or more days and avoid the detection of illegal drugs in the urine. So in reality, pre-employment drug testing using hair tests would be more effective in preventing the hiring of a substance abuser.

Several large trucking companies are now performing hair testing in addition to the required 5 panel urine lab-based testing. Some of these companies include JB Hunt, C. These companies cite safety and the large investment required as their motivation for conducting hair drug testing in addition to required DOT urine drug testing.

Since May of , of these trucking applicants for J. Hunt had cocaine in their system. The American Trucking Association ATA , which lobbies for trucking companies, supports new efforts to allow hair drug testing for truckers as an alternative to urine drug testing.

Other industries that have embraced hair testing include, but are not limited to, the oil and gas industry, the gaming industry, and the auto manufacturing industries.

Hair testing typically has approximately a 90 day look back period but can shorter or longer in some cases. Laboratories have increased the menu of panels available for hair testing beyond the typical 5 panel hair test that was previously the only available test for hair. Expanded opiate testing is now available with hair and some laboratories are offering hair testing for additional drugs panels including Benzodiazepines, Barbiturates, Methadone, Propoxyphene, Meperidine, Tramadol, Fentanyl and others.

In the near future, hair drug testing may be allowed in the DOT mandated drug and alcohol testing program. It is important to note that this is an initial authorization for hair testing but regulations and guidelines still need to be established by the Department of Health and Human Services HHS.

The Law requires HHS to issue guidelines no later than 1 year from the date of enactment. It will be interesting to see if hair drug testing becomes a reality for the DOT program as early as January of One challenge we see with hair drug testing is the training of hair drug specimen collectors. Many times specimens received at the labs are rejected for an insufficient quantity of specimen. We also see different labs quoting different quantities of hair required for hair drug testing so standardization will be very important.

Several hair testing laboratories such as Quest Diagnostics, Omega Laboratories, Psychemedics and US Drug Testing Labs offer hair collection instructional brochures or short web-based video training. It is clear that additional training for collectors is needed as too many specimens are still getting rejected.

At National Drug Screening, we work to insure all those conducting collections for our clients are properly trained, but it is clear the industry as a whole needs to work together to improve hair testing specimen collection training. If you would like to learn more about our hair panel drug tests, or how specimen collection works, you can reach us at Hair follicle drug tests are much more difficult to cheat than urine drug tests since a sample taken is done so directly by a trained collector.

Obviously, if someone has no body or head hair, then the hair follicle test cannot be performed. There is also some concern regarding environmental exposure to drugs, such as second hand marijuana smoke, and how it can affect a hair follicle test.

The hair follicle drug tests screen for the drug itself and the metabolites your body would produce if you ingested, or smoked, the drug. That means that even if marijuana smoke got stuck in your hair, as long as you did not inhale it, then your hair will have no evidence of marijuana metabolites, so your test will not be positive. Drug testing is becoming an increasingly important component of safety, security and operations across many industries.

Drug use for drivers, pilots and other vehicle operators can have tremendously negative effects on the road, the rail, or even in the air. Beyond the ethical implications of drug use in a professional setting, there are, of course, legal considerations. These metabolites, however, have a lifespan for the period in which they remain detectable to certain testing methods and scientific instruments.

The traditional drug test, such as the urine test that has been a commercial and medical standard for many years now, is easy to administer and collect. What happens during an FSH levels test?

Will I need to do anything to prepare for the test? Are there any risks to the test? What do the results mean? The meaning of your results will depend on whether you are a woman, man, or child. POI is the loss of ovarian function before the age of Polycystic ovary syndrome PCOS , a common hormonal disorder affecting childbearing women.

It is one of the leading causes of female infertility. Started menopause or are in perimenopause An ovarian tumor Turner syndrome , a genetic disorder that affects sexual development in females.

It often causes infertility. If you are a woman, low FSH levels may mean: Your ovaries are not making enough eggs. Your pituitary gland is not working correctly. You have a problem with your hypothalamus, a part of the brain that controls the pituitary gland and other important body functions.

You are very underweight. If you are a man, high FSH levels may mean: Your testicles have been damaged due to chemotherapy , radiation, infection, or alcohol abuse.

You have Klinefelter syndrome , a genetic disorder affects sexual development in males. If this is happening before age 9 in a girl or before age 10 in a boy precocious puberty , it may be a sign of: A disorder of the central nervous system A brain injury Low FSH and luteinizing hormone levels in children may be a sign of delayed puberty.

Delayed puberty may be caused by: A disorder of the ovaries or testicles Turner syndrome in girls Klinefelter syndrome in boys An infection A hormone deficiency An eating disorder If you have questions about your results or your child's results, talk to your health care provider.

Is there anything else I need to know about an FSH levels test? References FDA: U. Food and Drug Administration [Internet]. Silver Spring MD : U. Hormone Health Network [Internet]. Medically Reviewed By:. A hair follicle test is commonly selected because it gives testers employers, probation officers, investigators, etc. The long date range provides important insight, which is why you may have to take a hair follicle test. Call us at for a free consultation.

There are many reasons why an employer might want to get a drug test done. If employees are using drugs, then it can put their employer at risk of accidents. Or increased absenteeism, lower productivity, and higher insurance costs for the company. Hair follicle testing, just like most other types of drug tests, helps to decrease these risks. It filters out drug users in the workforce and stops some people from using drugs while working there.

But, why do a hair follicle test? And how do you pass a hair follicle drug test? Using hair to test for drug abuse is the only testing sample that gives the employer a day history of drug use.

This means you would have to stay off drugs for 90 days for your hair follicle test to be clean. Some individuals knowing they have a drug test coming up, may attempt to clear their system, which is far easier to achieve with urine drug tests. For a hair follicle drug test, there is a two-tiered testing process used. First, a portion of the laboratory technicians screens your hair using special equipment.

ELISA is a very reliable method used for routine drug testing. It is a rapid screen technology that uses the antibodies attached to a plate in the equipment to detect the drugs.