Taking Propecia and Having a Couple of Alcoholic Beverages

Dr. Rassman,

I have one or two drinks a day on average and also take propecia. Do I need to wait for a period of time after drinking before I take the pill? I don’t want to damage my liver!

Alcohol and liver damage is well documented. Alcohol can impact your hormones as well, and may slow down the excretion of finasteride from the liver.

Men with liver problems, including liver failure or cirrhosis, should talk to their doctors before taking finasteride. The liver helps to clear finasteride from the body, and finasteride could build up in people with liver problems give you many of the side effects discussed elsewhere on this site.

If you do not have liver disease and you take a 1mg Propecia in the morning, having a couple of drinks in the evening should not be a problem.