Hair Testing - A Closer Look

Last week I was privileged to accept an invitation to Psychemedics Hair Testing laboratory in Los Angeles, CA. Concorde has been working with Psychemedics since the Summer to launch a national hair program for one of our clients. The goal of this meeting was to get a better understanding of the hair testing process and what makes Psychemedics different from other hair laboratories.

During my visit, I was taken on a tour of the laboratory to see first hand how the process works. I was amazed at how much manual work it really takes to complete analysis of a hair test versus a urine test. Psychemedics has a room of technicians that open the specimen bags for sorting, weigh the hair follicles, arrange the hair lengthwise, measure the hair follicles, weigh again, and finally transfer to a lab tube. Psychemedics has automated a good part of the process, but it was clear that there is still a manual component that cannot be automated.

I then visited a separate area of the laboratory where the analysis is done. Psychemedics has a proprietary process in which they wash and liquefy the hair specimen to receive a more accurate result. Their specialized washing technique of 3 hours and 45 minutes in a proprietary chemical wash has been proven effective in removing any instance of contamination to the hair, such as secondary exposure.

Why Liquefy the Hair? Psychemedics explains:
“Psychemedics uses patented digestion methods to liquefy the sample to release essentially all the drugs present, which results in greater detection capabilities. Other labs may simply extract some drugs from below the hair surface with solvents, thereby leaving behind or destroying some of the drug present in the process. Because this type of solvent extraction is a less effective method, it opens up the possibility of drug users slipping through the employment process undetected.”

Although Hair Testing is not an approved testing method for DOT regulated tests, there are some advantages to hair testing in the pre-employment stage.

For instance, hair testing has a much longer detection rate than any other specimen (urine, saliva, blood) that can go back several months in some cases. Psychemedics has conducted some very interesting case studies and found that the positive rate of companies that have implemented a hair testing program skyrocketed compared to the urine test. One of the main reasons for this is that someone taking a pre-employment urine test can abstain from using illegal drugs for a couple of weeks and potentially have a negative result. With hair testing, depending upon the level of use, a person taking a pre-employment test, who uses illegal drugs, will more than likely come back with a positive result.

One important lesson I learned from the Psychemedics team is that companies looking to add hair testing should be very conservative about launching the program. In one case, a Psychemedics client launched their program to the entire company and lost about 1/3 of the workforce because of the high positive rate.

If you’re interested in learning more about hair testing, please feel free to e-mail me at josh@concorde2000.com