Finasteride side effects

• Pregnancy contact warning: Women who are pregnant or planning to become pregnant shouldn’t handle crushed or broken finasteride tablets. Contact with this drug, even through the skin, by these women could lead to defects in developing male fetuses. • Prostate cancer warning: This drug belongs to a class of drugs that could increase your risk of a faster growing or irregular form of prostate cancer. Finasteride can cause a decrease in your prostate specific antigen (PSA) level. An increased level of this antigen has been associated with prostate cancer. If your PSA levels increase while on this medication, it may be a sign of prostate cancer. Finasteride is a prescription drug. It comes as an oral tablet. Finasteride oral tablet is available as the brand-name drugs Proscar and Propecia. It’s also available as a generic drug. Generic drugs usually cost less than the brand-name version. In some cases, they may not be available in every strength or form as the brand-name drug. Why it’s used The condition that finasteride is used to treat depends on the type of the drug used. • Proscar is used to treat the symptoms of enlarged prostate (benign prostate hyperplasia). It may be used as part of a combination therapy. That means you need to take it with other drugs. It can also be taken with • Propecia is used to treat male pattern hair loss. Finasteride isn’t prescribed for use in women or children. How it works Finasteride works by decreasing the amount of the hormone dihydrote...

Finasteride is a generic drug that’s prescribed for male pattern hair loss and benign prostatic hypertrophy (BPH). The medication is also available as the brand-name drugs Propecia and Proscar. Finasteride comes as an oral tablet. This drug is FDA-approved to treat these conditions in adult males.* However, it may also be prescribed If you and your doctor agree finasteride is working well for you, you’ll likely take the medication long term. * † Off-label drug use simply means prescribing a drug for a purpose other than what it’s been approved for by the FDA. For more information about this off-label use of finasteride oral tablets, see the “ Drug details Finasteride is classified as a 5-alpha-reductase inhibitor. It comes in two strengths: 1 milligram (mg) and 5 mg. Brand-name versions Finasteride oral tablets are available in two brand-name versions: • Propecia is approved only for treating male pattern hair loss and comes only in a strength of 1 mg. • Proscar is approved only for treating BPH and comes only in a strength of 5 mg. Effectiveness For information about the effectiveness of finasteride oral tablets, see the “ Finasteride oral tablet is a generic drug. A generic drug is an exact copy of the active drug in a brand-name medication. Propecia and Proscar are the brand-name medications that finasteride oral tablets are based on. A generic is considered to be as safe and effective as the original drug. Generics tend to cost less than brand-name drugs. If you’re int...

Finasteride: 7 things you should know Medically reviewed by • • • • • • • 1. How it works • Finasteride, depending on the brand, may be used to treat benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) or hair loss in men. • Finasteride works by blocking an enzyme called Type II 5α-reductase which is responsible for converting the hormone testosterone into dihydrotestosterone (DHT). This results in increased levels of testosterone and decreased levels of dihydrotestosterone. An overabundance of dihydrotestosterone has been implicated in benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) and prostate cancer. • The scalp of men with androgenetic alopecia (male pattern baldness) has also been found to contain increased amounts of DHT and miniaturized hair follicles compared with men who have a lot of hair. Finasteride reduces scalp concentrations of DHT and appears to interrupt a key factor in the development of androgenetic alopecia in those men who are genetically predisposed. • Finasteride belongs to the class of medicines known as 5-alpha reductase inhibitors. 2. Upsides • Finasteride 5mg tablets (brand name Proscar) are indicated for the treatment of symptomatic BPH in men with an enlarged prostate. Finasteride reduces lower urinary tract symptoms such as daytime urinary urgency, frequent nighttime voiding, urinary hesitancy, weak stream, straining, and prolonged voiding). Finasteride lowers the risk of needing to have prostate surgery. May be used in combination with doxazosin in men with symptomatic p...

This medicine comes with a patient information leaflet. Read and follow the instructions carefully. Ask your doctor if you have any questions. You may take this medicine with or without food. If you are taking this medicine for male pattern hair loss, it may take at least 3 months to see an effect. The medicine will not cure hair loss, but it will cause scalp hair to grow. The hair growth will only last as long as the medicine is used. The new hair will be lost within 1 year after the medicine is stopped. If you are taking this medicine for benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH), it may take up to 6 months to see the full effect. The medicine will not cure BPH, but it does help reduce the size of the prostate and improve symptoms. The effect on the prostate will only last as long as the medicine is used. When it is stopped, the prostate begins to grow again within a few months. Swallow the tablet whole. Do not crush, break, or chew it. Take this medicine at the same time each day. Dosing The dose of this medicine will be different for different patients. Follow your doctor's orders or the directions on the label. The following information includes only the average doses of this medicine. If your dose is different, do not change it unless your doctor tells you to do so. The amount of medicine that you take depends on the strength of the medicine. Also, the number of doses you take each day, the time allowed between doses, and the length of time you take the medicine depend on t...

Now that you are getting ready to start using Finasteride, you will notice that many people have worried about its side effects. And as Finasteride is one of the most potent and standard tools we have today for treating hair loss or benign prostate enlargement, its easy access allows every patient to experience and say something completely different from one another. However, the main issue is mostly the same: Patients are mainly worried about the side effects of Finasteride on a patient’s libido and sexual life. And yes, Finasteride has specific side effects, regardless of how rare and easily reversible they are, so it is important to know what they and their rareness are before making a decision. TL;DR ➡ Finasteride is an oral medication used for reversing hair loss that works by inhibiting the production of male pattern baldness hormone called dihydrotestosterone (DHT). ➡ As Finasteride is an oral medication, it has a chance of creating certain rare side effects. But just like its effectiveness, its side effects depend on continuously using it. ➡ Various studies over the years show that all side effects of Finasteride fade away when you stop using the medication, leave no permanent effect, and are extremely rare. ➡ The ideal way to benefit from the medication is by knowing that you can quickly stop using it when a side effect occurs and advising your doctor on your medical history so that another condition does not trigger these effects. In this article, I will go throu...

There are a lot of rumors out there about this drug and its side effects. Being curious—or even concerned—about finasteride’s side effects is completely fair. Before you take any medication (or really make any decisions involving your own healthcare), you should always do your If you’d rather watch than read, check out this quick explainer from hair loss expert Finasteride’s side effects Yes, like any drug, there might be side effects. Some of the possible side effects of taking finasteride 1mg include: • depression or anxiety • dizziness, weakness, or feeling like you might pass out • headache • inability to urinate • pain in the testicles • runny nose • rash • signs of an allergic reaction like skin rash, itching, difficulty breathing, swelling of the face, lips, or tongue • sexual side effects (more on that below) • swelling in your hands or feet • swelling, pain, or tenderness in the breasts, or fluids leaking from the nipple Finasteride’s sexual side effects Let’s just jump right into what’s likely your biggest fear though: erectile dysfunction. Or, more specifically, the fear that taking finasteride will disrupt your sex life. Though rare, in clinical trials, 3.8% of male patients noticed some form of sexual side effects (versus 2.1% of patients using the placebo), including less desire for sex, difficulty in achieving an erection, or a decrease in the amount of semen released during sex. This may continue after stopping treatment. The number to focus on there is 3.8...