I am a female, aged 68 years. My doctor just put me on finasteride 5mg daily. Is it now safe for women? And is the dosage too high? If I cut the pill into fourths, would that still be too much?
I would ask this question and your concerns with your doctor. If you need a second opinion, you need then see another doctor.
Please understand this from a medical perspective and I’m not just trying to brush you off. You provided your gender and your age, but I cannot advise you with just that information. For example, is there a breast, ovarian, or cervical cancer history in your family or have you had one of these cancers in the past? There are many variables, so that is the role your doctor plays in these decisions.
Finasteride is not FDA approved for treating female hair loss (I assume that is why you were prescribed it), which means that your doctor prescribed it to you off-label and you need to ask him/her about this. For men, 1mg is recommended for treating hair loss and 5mg is for treating the prostate… so it is unusual for a doctor to prescribe 5mg finasteride for treating female hair loss.
Paid advertisements (not an endorsement):
Drs. and readers: the woman above was probably seeing a physician who was familiar with this fairly new study:
http://www.regrowth.com/hairloss-remedy/propecia/propecia-women.cfm
Brian,That study was published in 2004… and it included only 5 women. Yes, just 5.