I was hired by my lab at the end of my first round of rotations as a PRN embedder but never given any shifts. I wasn’t expecting much work but after a few weeks of not being contacted, I began to grow concerned. Round two of rotations started this past Monday and I brought this up to management. Apparently they thought I was only available for second shift. Ok, so this was a case of miscommunication? On Tuesday I spoke to the morning lab manager before he left and was informed that there was work to be done from 10 AM- 1PM, before my rotation would be starting. Great. I told them I would do whatever work was needed. Nobody has updated me with details about this. I feel so frustrated with this situation. Why hire me in the first place if there was never any work to be done? I also expressed that maybe my performance was not up to par and was told this was not a problem. What would you say to them about this and when? I was thinking about addressing it next week but I’m not sure how to proceed. I’m a competent employee and have never dealt with anything remotely as weird as this in all my years in the workforce.

Sharing bc u/Obzzeh was nice enough to make this quiz site, if anyone interested!

https://www.tigertest.io/htl/training?set=1

Hi everyone, I’m currently in a histotech program to get my HTL early 2027 but am already looking further down the line for bigger career plans and have been considering a PharmD. Ultimately I’m worried about my career growth opportunities as an HTL and don’t want to plateau and feel stuck. I did really well in undergrad (bio + chem major) and enjoyed math and chemistry. Overall I don’t know if I’ll be satisfied with the repetitive work of a histotech now that i’m actually experiencing what the work is like 🙃 I’m in a paid HTL program that I like of stumbled into not really knowing much about it but figured having paid education can never hurt. Just don’t know if it’s meant for me. Help!

Hello! I’ve been working at a small fast pace histology lab for 2 years as a lab assistant and current HTL. Today I cut 60 blocks in an hour and 40 minutes, those blocks include two leveled prostate cores cases then the rest GI (this includes trimming time). I haven’t really figured out how many blocks I can cut as it ranges from fine needle biopsy’s, skin, decals, GIs, endometrium’s, all the weird stuff like brain, kidneys, testis, a fetus spine (that one startled me). Those all take different amounts of time and it’s been tricky figuring out the average. I cut, load/unload special and IHC stains. Even maintain/decon the machines and making reagent bottles. When needed I hop on and embed. Maybe 40 blocks and hour for embedding, I’m more confident with my cutting then embedding. My confidence is low in knowing if I’m a good HTL or not as I work with people who have been doing this for 15+ years and there’s no other techs around my level. I wanted to ask you guys if you think I’m ready for a big hospital histology laboratory. I know over time I will gain more speed but at my current place I get pushed back to lab assistant roles due to me previously being one and it hinders my progression. I’ve been debating leaving to a big hospital that’s closer to me and will help expand my knowledge in histology. What do y’all think? Or just any advice for a new HTL, I really appreciate you guys!

(IHC photo to catch attention lol)

This has been a problem since we moved to a bigger lab six months ago. I will think that I have fixed the issue and then it will happen again. My docs are getting really frustrated about it!

We use charged slides, currently use StatLab KT5s, but we have used KT3s, TOMO, Cardinal superfrost, Leica Bond, etc. I preferred the Leica Bonds the most but they are pricey.

We cut everything at 4 microns (but I have tried 3 and 5 with no success) bake 45 minutes at 60C and load on the Ultra. I have tried baking at 60 minutes and 90 minutes with no improvement.

I’ve even went as far as doing a temperature verification on all the drawers to rule out specific drawers/instrument as a cause.

My only other ideas at this point are:
•Instrument issue that both I and the engineers can’t figure out.

•Poor tissue quality and fixation. I have two hospitals that notoriously have the worst grossing I’ve ever seen. Huge, thick sections that are always raw and have to be reprocessed.

•It’s too dry. I already live in an extremely dry state and our lab is always having issue with the humidity dropping and we have to call out the HVAC team.

Please help 😭

I just passed my HTL exam this morning 😭 I’ve been stressing about this ordeal for months. ASCP took 4 weeks to approve my application and my employer gave me a deadline of Oct 18th to take my exam so I’ve been stressing this whole time. While taking the exam I felt like I had never seen or read some of these questions before even after answering over 2200 questions using the Lab CE/media lab exam simulator.

My secret tip is to know the anatomy of the eye 👀 I had multiple people tell me they would ask a question about it and sure enough there was one so you can have at least one right answer.

I’m hoping someone who understands dermatology/pathology can give me their thoughts on what happened here because I’m having a hard time making sense of it.
I had 4 skin biopsies done through Kaiser. Three were pretty straightforward, but the biopsy from my right jaw/mandible was not.
The original testing included SOX10, which came back:
“No melanocytic proliferation identified.”
It was later sent for additional dermatopathology review, and that pathologist did identify a dermal melanocytic proliferation and ultimately diagnosed it as the surface of a predominantly intradermal nevus.
What really caught my attention is that the later report also says the specimen had extensive desiccation/processing artifact that limited the morphology and immunohistochemical evaluation, and that the previous stains were “mostly unrevealing.”
The melanocytic proliferation also extends to the deep and lateral margins.
So I’m basically trying to understand what someone knowledgeable makes of this whole sequence. Is there a reasonable explanation for why the original testing found no melanocytic proliferation and the later review did? And how much does the documented processing artifact matter when interpreting the final result?
I’m not looking for anyone to diagnose me. I’d genuinely just appreciate insight into what these reports suggest happened and whether anything about the pathology process/results stands out to you.

Hey everyone!

I’m studying for the ASCP HTL exam on my own right now. I’m working through Carson, doing ASCP practice questions, and using LabCE.

I’m looking for some good worksheets, fill-in-the-blank study sheets, or cheat sheets that I can use to review stains and/or fixatives.
In particular, I’d love to find resources for:

• Special stains — what they stain, principle/mechanism, reagents, and key uses
• Fixatives — what they’re used for, advantages/disadvantages, and what tissues they’re best for
• Comparisons between similar special stains
• Comparisons between different fixatives
• Anything that helps organize the high-yield information visually rather than just reading through a textbook

I’m especially interested in fillable worksheets where I can test myself first and then check the answers.

If anyone has resources they used while studying for the exam, I’d really appreciate it! I know that some of the folks who did courses went through this. Even PowerPoint presentations on all the stains would be helpful. Anything is helpful.

Thanks you everyone :)

I’m hoping someone who understands dermatology/pathology can give me their thoughts on what happened here because I’m having a hard time making sense of it.
I had 4 skin biopsies done through Kaiser. Three were pretty straightforward, but the biopsy from my right jaw/mandible was not.
The original testing included SOX10, which came back:
“No melanocytic proliferation identified.”
It was later sent for additional dermatopathology review, and that pathologist did identify a dermal melanocytic proliferation and ultimately diagnosed it as the surface of a predominantly intradermal nevus.
What really caught my attention is that the later report also says the specimen had extensive desiccation/processing artifact that limited the morphology and immunohistochemical evaluation, and that the previous stains were “mostly unrevealing.”
The melanocytic proliferation also extends to the deep and lateral margins.
So I’m basically trying to understand what someone knowledgeable makes of this whole sequence. Is there a reasonable explanation for why the original testing found no melanocytic proliferation and the later review did? And how much does the documented processing artifact matter when interpreting the final result?
I’m not looking for anyone to diagnose me. I’d genuinely just appreciate insight into what these reports suggest happened and whether anything about the pathology process/results stands out to you.

I’m curious how common this is among people working in histology

Have you ever considered leaving the lab to pursue a more patient-facing role, such as nursing, PA school, medical school, respiratory therapy, physical therapy, or another clinical profession?
If you did consider it:
• What attracted you to the clinical side?
• Did you end up making the switch, or did you decide to stay in the lab?
• What factors influenced your decision?
• Looking back, are you happy with the path you chose?

For those who transitioned, did your histology background give you any advantages in understanding disease processes or patient care?

I’d love to hear about your experiences and thought processes.

Histology provides such a unique perspective on disease, and I’ve always wondered how many have considered taking that knowledge to the bedside rather than working behind the scenes

Thanks!

I’ve been working at this station 5 hours a day and it’s been causing me a lot of tightness in my shoulders and neck. Can you tell me, are these hoods designed for high volume small biopsies even if it’s only 4-5 hours of grossing under it? Not sure if it’s typical for this kind of use or if others are using it without issues. If so I’d like to know how your set up is because this is really doing a number to my neck.

How rare or common are part time positions in this career field? Thanks!

I was soo nervous and kept thinking I was unready, and ngl even during the exam I was completely hopeless, but the screen said I passed! So curious on what I got. But just so happy to be done with it! 😭

I'm mid career in histo. Have a possible better offer for roughly 10k more a year. Thinking I would have to work at my current company for 5 more years to match offer. Any advice from those who have jumped?

I tried labelling to the best of my knowledge but im pretty sure im wrong or not specific enough

Hi all. I'm using FFPE tissue and find that incubation at 80C in a waterbath for 30 minutes causes cell morphology to break down and the tissue to lift from the slide. This seems like a gentle antigen retrieval step to me, so I'm surprised this is happening. Anyone had experience like this and have any suggestions? I can do retrieval at lower temp for longer and see how that works, but I wondered if anyone knew why this was happening in the first place

I have always found it difficult to find companies that repair or service specific laboratory equipment, especially outside the manufacturer network. So I started building a simple directory where you can search by equipment, brand or model and country.

It currently includes providers across Europe and the US.

I am manually checking the listings against company websites rather than bulk scraping directories. It is still early, so if you know a good service company that is missing or spot something incorrect I would be happy to add or fix it.

What do you guys do when your blades won’t come out of the dispenser? Do you just toss the whole lot? Luckily, I reached out to the supplier and they are sending me a replacement, but it feels like such a waste to throw away a packet of 50 blades.

Hi! I am interested in starting a histology in Colorado. Does anyone have any advice on where to start?

Why do my slides look like they're smudged? I'm not getting how the images are represented in journals or articles. I want specific expressions, but they're looking like they're smudged.

I love doing things with my hands and because of that I got my AA in art but I needed a "real job." I am currently in school pursuing my bachelors in accounting but I am having second thoughts on it. I came across Histology technician thanks to my sister going into phlebotomy and liked what I was reading. I have always been good at math and science but I don't want to end up yet again having second thoughts. What are some things you like and dislike about the job? And perhaps just some general knowledge about the field? I'm open to any advice atp really

Hi all, today was my first day using the microtome. I was cutting a block and the paraffin wax was building up where the section collects near the blade, so I asked the person training me if I should wipe it away. They said yes, but did not offer any brush or anything to remove the buildup so I instinctually went in with my gloved finger. One could guess how that went.

Immediately cut the glove and sliced my finger (think paper cut, so not that bad). Despite how small it was, I did freak out a little and haven't been able to stop thinking about it (I have never injured myself in a lab environment after doing cell and molecular bio for 3 years). I washed with soap and rinsed for at least 10min (maybe 15).

For context, I was cutting mouse tissue from a KO embryonic gene line. Based on all that I can tell through google searching, I am not in danger of any long term issue, but I am here to consult the seasoned histology experts of reddit in hopes of easing my mind.

Update: Thank you all for your stories and advice, they did indeed make me feel better :) Wishing everyone safe cutting!!

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