Is splitting finasteride 5mg bad? Will it ruin the effectiveness?

We tell patients that the most cost-effective way of taking finasteride is to split the 5 mg tablet in half and take half a pill every other day (Monday, Wednesday, Friday).

It would depend on how well you split the tablet. I suggest seeing a hair loss expert now to evaluate and go over your condition and test results and provide you information about your best treatment options. There are great non-invasive options like prp/progesterone which work well with Finasteride. Hair transplantation is an alternative. See an expert. Best, Dr. Emer

I am going to assume you have already had your in-person consultation with a hair restoration expert and that finasteride was prescribed to help you maintain your thinning hair.  The reality of pharmacy pricing is that pill splitting is accepted and common.  For years, older Americans have done so to save on drug prices.  There is a reason that pill splitters are so common in drugstores.  So the short answer: it is fine.  

Finasteride 5 mg is often the best way to manage the medication cost per month.  The main issue is the fact that by splitting the pill, there can be variability in the actual strength of each section that is injected in a given day.  This is likely not a huge issue, since the effectiveness of the Finasteride and the potential for increased side effects are not significant enough with small variations in the size of each piece of the split 5 mg pill.  

Thank you for your question. There is no guarantee that the active ingredient in the tablet of finasteride is evenly distributed in the tablet so the more you split the tablet, the more variability you may get in your daily dose. Splitting in half would probably be fine but as people start to split them into fourths, this could become more of an issue.

There is nothing inherently 'bad' about splitting finasteride. Some people will find that taking the 1 mg and not splitting the 5 mg pill is a bit more effective. This is a minority though. Please discuss these issues with your hair medicine physician. 

Splitting a 5mg tablet of finasteride (Proscar) is not easy as it will not split evenly. This should not be a problem as the dose over 4 or 5 days will still be 1mg or 1.25 mgs, enough to get the full value of it.  Keep the split pills in a dry place