The sweat patch has a gauze pad that is covered by a protective band-aid like membrane. Covered by a safe adhesive, the membrane sticks tightly to the subject’s skin absorbing the sweat. The patch stays for approximately six to ten days and is collected for laboratory testing to test for the presence of drugs. If ever drugs are detected, a confirmatory drug test is administered to determine the level whether or not it is above a certain ‘cut-off.’
There are a lot of problems involving the sweat patch. The most alarming is that it often produces false positives due to environmental contamination and skin storage.
Studies have shown that there is a risk of producing false positives in sweat patches due to environmental contaminations from inside and outside factors. Contamination from inside factors occurs when the subject contains drug residue located in the area where the patch is to be placed. If the initial sterilization of the skin area fails to remove the residue, then it could produce a false-positive. Contamination from outside factors occurs when there are drugs present in the environment and penetrates through the membrane that covers the patch.
Long-term storage of drugs in the skin could lead to false positives. Studies have shown that long time users often store traces of drugs under the skin surface. These drugs may be stored there for a long time even after the user has stopped using drugs and could still be detected by the sweat patch.
Tags: drug testing method, sweat drug test, sweat drugs
