This NHS content is written for people in England. Medicine names, availability, prescribing and services may differ in other countries.
Finasteride is used to treat an enlarged prostate (benign prostate enlargement). It can help ease your symptoms if:
- it's difficult to start peeing
- you need to pee urgently or more often
- it's difficult to empty your bladder completely
Finasteride is available on prescription only. It comes as tablets.
It can also be used to treat hair loss in men (male pattern baldness).
However, for hair loss you can only get finasteride on a private prescription. This means you'll need to pay the full cost of the medicine. It's not available on the NHS.
This medicine is generally not recommended for women. It might be prescribed by a specialist doctor but only in very rare cases.
View the original NHS website page ↗. Refreshed 19 August 2026.
Licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0 ↗. MyPHU is independent and is not endorsed by the NHS.