Steroid Testing

Accurate and rapid testing that’s difficult to cheat

Steroid abuse is a growing, underreported issue in family law cases, which is why our laboratory team have extended our hair testing service portfolio to include anabolic steroids – a unique service among UK laboratories.

A range of steroids

As we stated earlier, Cansford labs tests for a range of prescription androgenic anabolic steroids, designer steroids and endogenous hormones, such as DHEA and Testosterone.

Boxing, weightlifting, MMA and other sports

Our testing doesn’t just include family cases either. We assist individuals and organisations in a wide variety of sports including boxing, weightlifting and MMA, plus other types of fitness and bodybuilding activities. Undergoing a B sample, confirmation and abstinence testing are just a few other reasons for having a steroid test with Cansford.

Sophisticated methods of detection

Hair strand testing for steroids is a sophisticated and non-invasive method used to detect the presence of anabolic steroids and other performance-enhancing substances in an individual’s system.

This technique is based on the fact that when steroids are ingested or injected, they can be metabolised and subsequently incorporated into the hair follicles, where they remain for an extended period.

Fast, reliable and efficient – and difficult to cheat

Hair testing is a fast, reliable means of detecting substance abuse over long periods – between 7 days and 6 months after donor use.

Extremely difficult to cheat, the method tests for metabolites within the hair strand, using sensitive LC-MS/MS techniques (Liquid Chromatography with Mass Spectrometry) to build a month-by-month picture of steroid use.

Advantages and disadvantages

The advantage of hair strand testing over other methods like urine or blood tests is its ability to provide a longer detection window, often spanning several months.

Where there is no head hair on the scalp, we are able to collect hair from other parts of the body, which includes chest, groin, armpit and leg hair. In the absence of no hair, we can also collect clippings from toes or finger nails.

Sample collection is easy and non-invasive, and can be performed by one of our 50 trained collectors UK-wide.