The 1 mg uses sentence is shorter than people want
Propecia is a 5-alpha-reductase inhibitor indicated for male pattern hair loss (androgenetic alopecia) in men only. One 1 mg tablet once daily, with or without meals. That is the entire dose section.
It is not indicated in women. It is not a beard-growth licence. It is not a 5 mg prostate tablet taken 'when I remember'.
The INN draft keeps 1 mg and 5 mg on separate lines. The sexual-AE plan is the counselling sheet without panic copy.
Generic finasteride 1 mg x 90, GoodRx Propecia tablet table.
Generic finasteride 1 mg, ninety tablets, the Yvessa Propecia lock, August 2026. GoodRx lists 1 mg x 90 at $147.21 average retail and $34.85 with a coupon. Proscar 5 mg is a BPH NDC, not this hair-loss count. Yvessa does not dispense.
Sexual effects without a panic paragraph
The common labelled reactions at ≥1% and greater than placebo are decreased libido, erectile dysfunction, and ejaculation disorder, including less ejaculate volume.
Postmarketing reports include sexual symptoms that continued after the tablet stopped, depression, suicidal thinking, breast tenderness, testicular pain, and rare male breast cancer reports. Those are labelled counselling items, not internet percentages this desk will invent.
Gynecomastia and breast lumps need a clinical look, not a wait-for-the-hairline plan. Nipple discharge is the same.
The AE plan markup is the longer talk. This sheet will not tell a man his symptoms are imaginary, and it will not tell him they are permanent from one forum thread.
| Topic | Label fact | Desk move |
|---|---|---|
| Libido / ED / ejaculate | ≥1% and > placebo in trials | Document baseline before start |
| After stop | Some postmarketing persistence | Do not promise a timeline |
| Breast change | Labelled; rare cancer reports | Examine, do not dismiss |
| Mood | Depression / suicidal thoughts in postmarketing | Same-week review |
How this desk judges a vertex at month three
Same camera, same window, wet hair parted the same way. A bathroom selfie in different light is how people declare failure at week six and success at a wedding.
Count is better than mood. The registration photographs were standardised. Your phone is not, but it is what most men will actually do.
Shed in the first months can happen as miniaturised hairs cycle. That is a reason to stay on 1 mg through month three, not a reason to double the tablet.
If temples were the only complaint and the vertex was strong, say so on day one. The 1997 indication work was not a temple-restoration promise.
A dermatologist who adds topical minoxidil is running a second plan. It does not change pregnancy handling or PSA disclosure on the 1 mg.
Stopping for a beach month still spends the 12-month reversal clock. Photograph before the pause so the later argument has evidence.
Grey-market 1 mg without a batch you can trace is not cheaper DHT blockade. It is an unknown powder next to a pregnancy-handling rule you can no longer trust.
If ED appears, date it against the first swallow and against life stress. The AE plan is the longer talk. This paragraph is only the reminder to write the date.
When the same man also asks about a PDE5 tablet
Sexual sides on 1 mg and a request for tadalafil can travel together. They are different INNs and different contraindications. A nitrate wall on tadalafil does not appear on finasteride.
Do not start both on the same day 'to cover the risk'. Document baseline function. If ED was present before 1 mg, the hair tablet is not the only story.
Proscar 5 mg plus tamsulosin is a BPH lane. Hair-loss 1 mg plus tamsulosin is a different indication mash. The INN draft keeps those lines from merging.
Grey-market 'hair plus ED' combo strips are not this lock. They also break the pregnancy-handling rule if tablets crumble in a shared bathroom.
Margin notes on the 1 mg count
Sports physicals that hide 1 mg produce surprise PSA math. Write the drug on the form.
A man who wants to 'cycle' 1 mg three months on, three off, has not read the reversal sentence. Say so.
Crushed tablets in a weekly organiser are a household hazard if a partner may be pregnant. Keep them whole.
Stamp 21 August 2026 still refuses a 5 mg split as a hair-loss plan.
Crushed tablets and a male fetus
Pregnancy is a contraindication. Type II 5-alpha-reductase inhibitors can cause abnormalities of the external genitalia in a male fetus.
Women who are pregnant or who may become pregnant must not handle crushed or broken Propecia tablets. If contact happens, wash the area. Whole coated tablets limit that exposure if they stay intact.
Semen exposure at the 1 mg dose was studied in monkeys at high multiples without the same malformation signal seen with much higher IV exposures. The handling rule for broken tablets still stands. Do not invent a 'safe to crush' workaround.
This drug is not indicated in children.
PSA falls. Tell the person who ordered the blood.
In men 18-41 on 1 mg, mean PSA moved from about 0.7 to 0.5 ng/mL at month 12 in the label's cited work. In older men on 5 mg for BPH, PSA falls by about half.
Any confirmed rise from the lowest PSA while on Propecia can signal prostate cancer and should be worked up even if the number still looks 'normal' for a man not on a 5-alpha-reductase inhibitor.
Non-adherence also muddies the PSA story. If he skipped January, say so before someone interprets a bounce.
The class warning on high-grade prostate cancer sits on the label. It is a screening conversation, not a reason to hide the tablet from the GP.
What 1 mg actually lowers, and what it does not grow
Type II 5-alpha-reductase turns testosterone into DHT in scalp and prostate. Finasteride blocks that step. Serum and scalp DHT fall. Circulating testosterone may rise a little. That is not a bodybuilding effect and it is not a licence to stack unlabelled testosterone gel.
Vertex miniaturisation is the target that the 1997 hair-loss studies photographed. A receded temple that has been bare for a decade is a poorer bet. Saying so on day one prevents a year of angry mail.
Beard, chest, and body hair were asked about in one vertex program. Do not sell 1 mg as a beard drug. If non-scalp hair changes, write it down rather than guessing a mechanism from a forum.
Women with patterned thinning need a different evidence file. Leftover partner 1 mg is unlicensed use and a handling risk if anyone in the house can become pregnant.
Daily means daily
Missed tablet: take it when remembered unless the next one is due. Do not double to 'catch the hair up'.
Minoxidil, transplants, and light devices are other plans. They do not change the 1 mg handling rules.
Generic 1 mg with a real MA number is the same enzyme story as Propecia. A grey-market blister is not.
| Absorption | Oral 1 mg; food optional. |
|---|---|
| Distribution | Widely distributed; DHT falls in serum and scalp. |
| Metabolism | Hepatic metabolism; not a CYP circus like fluoxetine. |
| Excretion | Metabolites in urine and feces; DHT suppression lasts beyond a single missed day. |
Who does not start 1 mg
Women, including those who may be pregnant. Known hypersensitivity. Pediatric patients.
A man who will not accept a PSA conversation should hear that before the first box, not after the first lab surprise.
Liver disease is a caution lane. The prescriber decides. This page does not invent a hepatic cut-off milligram.
What to write on the next PSA form
Drug name, 1 mg daily, start date, and whether January was skipped. A silent 1 mg is how a real rise hides inside a 'normal' range.
Young men in the label's 18-41 work saw a small mean drop. Older men on 5 mg see about a 50% drop. Do not apply the 5 mg doubling rule blindly to a 28-year-old on hair-loss 1 mg, and do not ignore a confirmed rise either.
Family history of prostate cancer already changes the conversation. The class warning on high-grade disease is a counselling line, not a reason to hide the tablet.
If he stops 1 mg before a PSA, say so. Non-adherence muddies both the hair story and the lab story.
A man who hides 1 mg from a sports physical and then shows a 'normal' PSA has not cheated the test. He has made the test unreadable. Write the drug. That is the whole paragraph.
If the lab already printed a result, add a comment and repeat rather than guessing a 'true' PSA on a napkin.
Fertility notes and the mood watch
Postmarketing lists male infertility and poor semen quality. Those reports do not come with a percentage this desk will invent. A man trying to conceive should say so before the first box so a semen analysis has a baseline.
If a couple is already in a fertility clinic, the 1 mg belongs on that list. Stopping to 'clear DHT suppression' is a months-long hair decision as well as a fertility one. The 12-month reversal sentence still applies to the scalp.
Depression and suicidal thinking sit in postmarketing. A man with old episodes needs a named person to call in week three, not a 'vanity drug, ignore mood' line.
Breast tenderness, lumps, or nipple discharge need examination. Rare male breast cancer reports are why 'it is just hormones' is a lazy sentence.
Vertex counts, not a two-week selfie
The registration work that matters for this lock enrolled men with mild to moderate vertex hair loss. A third study looked at anterior mid-scalp. Photographs and hair counts were the endpoints, not a bathroom-mirror mood.
Three months is the earliest honest checkpoint most clinicians use. Some men need closer to a year before they will admit a change. The label's 'continued use' language is the point: this is a daily habit or it is nothing.
If treatment stops, the effect typically reverses within 12 months. That sentence is why 'I will do summers only' fails.
Women with hair loss are a different evidence file. This indication does not cover them. Do not crush a 1 mg tablet to 'share'.
Two strengths, two years, one INN
Finasteride 5 mg (Proscar) approved for BPH.
Finasteride 1 mg (Propecia) approved for male pattern hair loss.
Earliest fair look at vertex response.
Hair gains typically reverse if the tablet stops.
Do not quarter a 5 mg Proscar and call it Propecia
Proscar 5 mg is the BPH product. The hair-loss lock is 1 mg. Pharmacokinetics and the PSA conversation differ by indication even though the INN matches.
Some men split 5 mg tablets to save money. That is a different NDC, a dust-exposure problem if tablets crumble, and a dosing-accuracy problem. This sheet will not bless it.
GoodRx on this lock is 1 mg x 90. A 5 mg prostate count is another row. Ask the window for the strength on the script.
| INN / lock | Finasteride / Propecia 1 mg |
|---|---|
| Class | Type II 5-alpha-reductase inhibitor |
| Dose | 1 mg once daily |
| Not this lock | Proscar 5 mg BPH |
| Food | Either way |
Stamp on the 1 mg hair sheet
Survey: current Propecia PI, men-only sentence, pregnancy handling, PSA footnote, 12-month reversal.
Draft: 1 mg line never borrows Proscar 5 mg language. Sexual AE listed without invented percents.
Peer-check: Amelie confirms crushed-tablet warning. Stamp 21 August 2026. No sale through Yvessa.
Sources
- FDA / Organon Propecia (finasteride) PI - 1 mg daily, men only, pregnancy handling, PSA.
- DailyMed PROPECIA - sexual AE, high-grade prostate cancer warning, vertex studies.
- Proscar 5 mg is a separate BPH label - not this hair-loss count.
Checked against the current label and reviewed by Dr. Amélie Laurent. See Survey, Draft, Peer-check, Stamp.