The evaluation of keratin materials obtained from the distal portion of digits to detect the presence of medicine or their metabolites constitutes a selected type of substance abuse screening. This system supplies a historic document of drug ingestion over a interval extending a number of months. For instance, a optimistic consequence from the sort of assay signifies drug publicity throughout the previous 3 to six months, contingent on the speed of nail development.
This testing modality gives a number of benefits over conventional strategies like urine or hair evaluation. Notably, specimen assortment is non-invasive and might be simply noticed, lowering the potential of adulteration or substitution. Moreover, the prolonged detection window supplies a extra complete view of a person’s drug use historical past, doubtlessly revealing patterns of abuse that could be missed by shorter-term detection strategies. Its improvement and utility have supplied forensic science with a longer-term different to urinalysis and a much less invasive choice in comparison with hair follicle testing.
