Frequently Asked Questions

  1. I would like to have my hair tested for trace minerals.
    We currently don't do mineral tests.
  2. Do you analyze for hair for heavy metals as well as drugs?
    Currently we do not analyze hair for heavy metals. We only analyze for the drugs listed on the website.
  3. How to deliver the hair samples to your lab?
    Samples can be shipped to us via FedEx, UPS, & DHL at ambient temperature and they are non-biohazardous.
  4. How long is "long term" adherence?
    One month per centimeter of hair depending on the length of hair sample collected. Urine measures adherence over the last 4-7 days.
  5. Is it possible to detect cytostatics or immunosupressants?
    We do not analyze cytostatics or immunosuppressants as we dhave not developed methods for these and this is not the focus of our work.
  6. For men without hair, are we able to take samples from their beard instead?
    Hair grows steadily at a rate of 1 cm per month from the scalp and not from other areas of the body so we only sample from the scalp. 
  7. If a participant is bald, what other types of hair can be used in your assay? Would you suggest using facial hair? Or pubic or armpit hair? Or is there another type you would recommend?
    No, we do not suggest collecting hair from any other site in the body since only scalp hair grows consistently and, therefore, serves as a marker of time (e.g. approximately 1cm per month). Hair in other parts of the body does not grow steadily and therefore, participants who are bald will have to have missing data for the hair collection part.
  8. Is there a minimum hair length for hair analysis? A case in point, would be a study client eligible hair analysis but has very short hair that you can't attach even attach a label on it. Do we still cut only 20 strands for hair which may be only 2mm long?
    Hair grows about 1 cm per month so with 2 mm hair length we would be analyzing the average drug accumulation over a little less than a week of time. For hair that is very short and can’t be labeled you would just put the hair in a piece of foil and fold it up so the hair won’t fall out. You would need to cut more than 20 strands since the minimum hair we need per assay is 2 mg or 5 mg depending on drug assay. More hair is better since there may be situations we need to repeat analysis of the sample.