Finasteride use during pregnancy and early neonatal outcome: a case report

The use of antiandrogen drugs such as finasteride during pregnancy may carry the risk of birth defects, especially hypospadias. We report a 39-year-old woman, with 5 weeks unplanned pregnancy, the patient conceived while receiving daily dose of finasteride 2.5 mg for treatment of alopecia. The patient's partner was concurrently using finasteride for the same purpose. Ultrasound scans including detailed anatomy were normal throughout pregnancy and the fetal gender was detected to be male. The patient had her delivery at 38⁺⁵ weeks' gestation, by elective cesarean section, a male infant with a weight of 3.58 kg and Apgar score of 9 and 10 at 1 and 5-min, respectively. The infant was healthy with no obvious dysmorphic features. In this case report, maternal use of finasteride in early pregnancy was not associated with external genitalia abnormalities of a male baby. Moreover, maternal exposure to the semen of partner who received finasteride did not adversely affect the short term neonatal outcomes. However, absence of apparent neonatal adverse effects in a single case report does not indicate safety of use. Population-based long term neonatal outcomes are yet to be established.