Finasteride
Medication
5-alpha-reductase inhibitor
hormonalskin
Not medical advice. Check with your doctor or pharmacist before you start, stop or change the timing of anything you take.
How to use
What it’s for
Enlarged prostate symptoms; male pattern hair loss in men
When to take
NHS: once a day · with or without food · SAMe time daily
Take with
Water · with or without food · tablets swallowed whole
Pros & cons
Pros
- NHS: eases trouble starting or finishing peeing
- HealthHub: slows balding, some regrowth after 3 months
- NHS: one tablet once a day, taken long term
Cons
- Less interest in sex, erection problems (NHS)
- NHS: can carry on even after stopping in some people
- Rare: low mood, depression, self-harm thoughts (NHS)
Sources
- HSA — Listing of Registered Therapeutic Products (data.gov.sg open dataset, 5,511 rows, full dataset pulled once via datastore_search and filtered locally) · read 2026-08-27
what it says
“10 registered finasteride products, every one Forensicclassification 'Prescription Only': SIN07513P PROSCAR TABLET 5 mg, SIN09921P PROPECIA TABLET 1 mg, SIN13869P FINASTERIDE TABLETS USP 1mg (FINAS 1), SIN14423P FINAGEN 5, SIN14865P STERCIA 1MG, and five more”
- NHS Medicines A-Z — Finasteride (brand names: Proscar, Propecia), 'About finasteride', page last reviewed 2 August 2023 · read 2026-08-27
what it says
“Finasteride is used to treat an enlarged prostate (benign prostate enlargement). It can help ease your symptoms if: it's difficult to start peeing … Finasteride is available on prescription only. It comes as tablets.”
- NHS Medicines A-Z — Finasteride, 'About finasteride' key facts: PSA testing · read 2026-08-27
what it says
“Finasteride can affect the results of PSA testing (a blood test to check for prostate cancer). If you need to have a PSA test, tell your doctor that you're taking finasteride.”
- NHS Medicines A-Z — Finasteride, 'How and when to take finasteride' · read 2026-08-27
what it says
“For an enlarged prostate the usual dose of finasteride is 5mg, taken once a day. For hair loss, the usual dose is 1mg, taken once a day. You can take finasteride with or without food.”
- NHS Medicines A-Z — Finasteride, 'Who can and cannot take finasteride' · read 2026-08-27
what it says
“Most men aged 18 years old or over can take finasteride. It's generally not recommended for women or children … have ever had depression or thoughts about harming yourself … have severe bladder problems … have liver problems”
- NHS Medicines A-Z — Finasteride, 'Side effects of finasteride': common side effects · read 2026-08-27
what it says
“Problems getting an erection and less interest in having sex … Problems with ejaculating, such as little or no semen … they can sometimes carry on even after you stop taking finasteride”
- NHS Medicines A-Z — Finasteride, 'Side effects of finasteride': serious side effects · read 2026-08-27
what it says
“Serious side effects are rare and happen in less than 1 in 1,000 people … any lumps, pain or swelling in your chest area … low mood (depression) … you have thoughts of harming yourself”
- NHS Medicines A-Z — Finasteride, 'Taking finasteride with other medicines and herbal supplements' · read 2026-08-27
what it says
“Finasteride is not affected by other medicines. St John's wort (a herbal remedy sometimes taken to help with depression) might stop finasteride working as well as it's supposed to.”
- HealthHub (MOH Singapore / National Medication Information workgroup) — Finasteride leaflet, article last reviewed 25 May 2026: uses · read 2026-08-27
what it says
“It is used to treat benign prostatic hyperplasia (enlarged prostate) … This medication is for use in men only … Finasteride can also be used to treat male pattern hair loss (androgenetic alopecia).”
- HealthHub — Finasteride leaflet: effect on male pattern hair loss · read 2026-08-27
what it says
“it usually occurs after the medication has been used for at least 3 months and lasts only as long as the medication continues to be used. Hair loss will begin again within 3 to 6 months after stopping the medication.”
- HealthHub — Finasteride leaflet: how it is taken · read 2026-08-27
what it says
“You may take this medication with or without food. Take this medication at the same time of the day. This medication should be swallowed whole.”
- HealthHub — Finasteride leaflet: precautions and what to tell your healthcare professional · read 2026-08-27
what it says
“You have heart or liver problem … it may affect prostate specific antigen (PSA), which is a prostate-specific marker in the blood … You have abnormally low mood or have depression”
- HealthHub — Finasteride leaflet: handling and pregnancy exposure · read 2026-08-27
what it says
“This medication should not be touched or handled by pregnant women or women who are of childbearing age as the active ingredient of the medication (Finasteride) can be absorbed through the skin”
- FDA DailyMed SPL — Finasteride tablets 1 mg (Rising Pharma Holdings), label effective 19 Apr 2024, read via the openFDA drug-label API · read 2026-08-27
what it says
“Finasteride tablets may be administered with or without meals. The recommended dose of finasteride is one tablet (1 mg) taken once daily. In general, daily use for three months or more is necessary before benefit is observed.”
- FDA DailyMed SPL — PROSCAR (finasteride) 5 mg tablets, Organon LLC, label effective 18 Mar 2026, read via the openFDA drug-label API · read 2026-08-27
what it says
“PROSCAR may be administered with or without meals. Monotherapy: One tablet (5 mg) taken once a day. Combination with Doxazosin: One tablet (5 mg) taken once a day in combination with the alpha-blocker doxazosin.”
Updated 2026-08-29. Every line above traces to a numbered source. Kozen-X is not a medical device and does not give medical advice. It lists what published sources have written down — nothing more. A pair not listed is unrecorded, not cleared. Before you start, stop or re-time anything, talk to your doctor or pharmacist.