Has anyone had a faint line on lateral flow

[LifesTooShortYOLO]

And had a PCR that's come back Negative?
I did my lateral flow this morning and I don't know if I'm being paranoid but if I squint and look closely I 'think' I may be able to see a second very faint line 😕
I've booked a PCR for this morning anyway but I was just wondering if it's inevitable that the PCR will come back positive or could it be negative?
I understand that I won't know until the PCR results for sure but I just wondered if anyone had had a faint line that turned out to be negative on their PCR?
Thank you 😊

This happened to me (and 2 colleagues) this week, strangely. Clear lines beside the T and yet the PCRS were negative.

I was under the impression that lateral flows were far more likely to give a false negative than a false positive, and that PCR were more sensitive. What's going on?!

@LifesTooShortYOLO

🤞🏼It's -ve.

I can see all the other lines people have posted, but I cannot see the line in yours At All.

After the last one of these threads, I'm sure loads of people must be missing the lines if they can be so so so feint. It certainly made me look at mine much more carefully! AND I kept some of them for a while after the time to read them to see what they would look like positive 🤣

Hope everyone gets negative PCR's

My little girl had a faint positive lft but a negative pcr.
She was really ill with all the symptoms of covid so we are still unsure if she had it or not 🤷‍♀️

Well My PCR result has just come back NEGATIVE 😰 Phew!
After two lateral flows with a very faint line I was convinced it would be positive so I'm really relieved 😌
No idea why you may get a faint line on your lateral flow though?!
I hope everyone else in this thread gets their negative PCR test back too.
Please keep us updated 😊🤞🏻

Good news! Your results came back quickly - how many hours? Perhaps DS’s will come in next few hours too, then?

@Watsername

Good news! Your results came back quickly - how many hours? Perhaps DS’s will come in next few hours too, then?

I'm so impressed with how quick they came back! Went for PCR at 11.30am at a walk in test site and results came through at 10pm 🙂 Best of luck let us know when you get your little ones results back 🤞🏻

My second pcr also came back negative.

@juniper1234

My second pcr also came back negative.

That's great news 😊 Did you do just the one lateral flow with the faint line? Doesn't give me much faith in these lateral flows 🤨

DS’s PCR came back negative too

@Watsername

DS’s PCR came back negative too

Great news! Do you have W pic of your lateral flow? What is going on?!

Still not got my PCR results but this thread is giving me hope especially as I've done another LFT this morning which is completely negative..

My DH had a really dark line on his LFT (see photo - one is DH, the other is mine) weirdly he tested negative on PCR, I tested positive

@Hardtoknowwhat

Still not got my PCR results but this thread is giving me hope especially as I've done another LFT this morning which is completely negative..

I was convinced my PCR was going to be positive as the more I looked at my lateral flow the more I could see a clear second faint line. So relieved when it came back Negative! No idea what's causing these faint lines though it seems a lot of people are getting them and then getting negative PCRs Fingers crossed for you there is defining hope🤞🏻

DH and DD's had PCR's at same time. They've all had negative results about an hour ago.. Mine hasn't come back

Does anyone know if postives/negatives get sent in different batches?

Remember that even the PCRs only pick up 70% of cases, so if you have symptoms and a positive lateral flow followed by a negative pcr it is still likely you have covid. Lfts you are far more likely to get a false neg than a false positive, although it is possible.

I've been told by both a GP and a hospital dr that they PCR test 3 times if someone has covid symptoms before accepting it is really negative - and often patients test positive on the second or third.
Also, to the PP with a DS with faint positive lfts two weeks apart, could he have had it in the last 3 months and the test is picking up dead virus cells?

Hi @LifesTooShortYOLO

No I had two and both showed the line immediately although it never got any darker than in the pic I posted. I have done another from the newer style lft they are now sending out and that's negative.

I don't think I'll bother with the original style lft again

@QuarantineQueen

Remember that even the PCRs only pick up 70% of cases, so if you have symptoms and a positive lateral flow followed by a negative pcr it is still likely you have covid. Lfts you are far more likely to get a false neg than a false positive, although it is possible.

That's the point though I don't have symptoms and if it wasn't for the lateral flow faint line I wouldn't have even questioned it

@LifesTooShortYOLO sorry i didn't mean you, I meant other posters with symptoms. There's a much lower chance that their lft is a false positive than yours.

Did you definitely wait 30-60 min after eating/drinking before your lateral flow?

My dc had a faint but visible line on two different lft's but the pcr was negative. The rest of us were all positive..

@QuarantineQueen

I've been told by both a GP and a hospital dr that they PCR test 3 times if someone has covid symptoms before accepting it is really negative - and often patients test positive on the second or third. Also, to the PP with a DS with faint positive lfts two weeks apart, could he have had it in the last 3 months and the test is picking up dead virus cells?

That’s my DS - I am wondering that too (whether he’s had it). He was taking twice weekly lfts for school and averaging once a week over the holidays (we’ve been doing them before seeing people or going on days out), and apart from the two in the last two weeks they have all been negative. He’s had no symptoms at all, and has been really well, apart from a headache for 3 hours after his vaccine. So I don’t know when he could have had it!

Just got my PCR results and negative too.

Just throwing in that we have had same issue. Child with several very faint lines on LFT, with symptoms though. So faint that you wouldn’t see it on a picture.
Waiting on PCR test result. Will update

My Dsis’ PCR came back positive in the end, really hoped the lateral flow was a false positive because it was so feint.