Finasteride is a medication used to treat two conditions in men: benign prostatic hypertrophy (BPH) and male pattern hair loss, also called androgenetic alopecia. Here are some details about how finasteride is used for each condition:
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BPH: Finasteride is used alone or in combination with another medication (doxazosin) to treat BPH. It can help ease symptoms such as difficulty starting to urinate, frequent urination, and the need to get up at night to urinate. Finasteride can also reduce the chance of acute urinary retention (sudden inability to urinate) and decrease the chance that prostate surgery will be needed.
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Male pattern hair loss: Finasteride is used to treat male pattern hair loss, which is gradual thinning of the hair on the scalp, leading to a receding hairline or balding on the top of the head in men. Finasteride will increase the number of scalp hairs but will not increase the amount of body hair. It should be used by adult men only.
Finasteride works by blocking the action of an enzyme called 5-alpha-reductase, which changes testosterone to another hormone that causes the prostate to grow or hair loss in males. By decreasing the amount of this hormone, finasteride can increase hair regrowth and slow hair loss, as well as decrease the size of the prostate.
