Nail Drug Panels

 

Fingernail drug testing is performed using the same premise of how hair drug testing is performed. Your fingernails are composed of a hard protein. This protein is called keratin. Any drugs you might have come in contact with are transmitted via your bloodstream throughout your body. Once the drugs enter your nail from the base as the keratin is forming, and from the nail bed that is located under your fingernail, the substances are then sealed in your fingernail.

 

Fingernail drug tests are designed to detect the residual presence of amphetamines, methamphetamines, cocaine, opiates, PCP, and cannabis. Fingernail drug testing is extremely accurate and a positive test can be admitted as evidence in a court proceeding. Depending on your metabolism and the rate at which your nails grow, the test can detect the presence of drugs in your system as far back as eight months.

 

In many cases, fingernail drug testing is court ordered. However, this type of testing may be used by employers to determine if you have used drugs at any time during the past few months. 

 

Since urine testing only accurately detects the recent presence of drugs in your system, fingernail testing may be considered to be the option that offers the best results for longer term drug use. Additionally, this type of testing offers some subjects a less invasive method than drawing blood or testing urine.

 

To perform this type of test, a trained professional obtains a small sample of scrapings or clippings from your fingernails. Once the samples are labeled and sealed, the samples are then sent to a laboratory to be processed. As soon as the laboratory receives the samples, the samples are decontaminated. After decontamination the samples are then liquefied and a series of tests is performed. 

 

Here is a chart of our Fingernail / Toenail Testing Panels: