Product feature – Hair testing

Quest Diagnostics is committed to providing your company with a complete array of drug testing options. We often receive questions from customers regarding alternative testing, specifically hair testing. If you are not already aware, or are considering an alternative testing methodology, you might be interested to know that hair testing for drugs of abuse is available from and performed by Quest Diagnostics.

There are a number of advantages that hair testing offers over alternative testing methods:

– This is the only testing method that provides up to a 90-day detection window of drug use, making it an ideal option for pre-employment and random testing.
– Our lab-based hair testing system provides accurate and reliable results.
– Specimen collection is observed, which significantly reduces the possibility of adulteration or substitution.Our turn-around-time is the best in the industry. Negative results are reported within 24 hours of specimen receipt and positive results are confirmed within 48-72 hours.

Compared with urine specimen testing, hair testing provides nearly twice the number of positive results due largely to a much longer detection window.

This testing method finds its niche in a testing setting where long-term use and dependency are in question. However, hair testing will not detect new or infrequent use as it does take time for testable levels of the drug to enter the hair specimen. This fact makes hair testing a viable alternative for pre-employement and random testing.

Hair testing can be used to detect the following classes of drugs: amphetamines (including Ecstasy), cocaine and metabolites, marijuana, opiates and phencyclidine (PCP).

For more information about drug testing, visit our website.