Medical Treatment of Benign Prostatic Hypertrophy (BPH)
The two most commonly used drugs to treat BPH are Proscar (finasteride) and Flomax (tamsulosin).
Proscar actually reduces the size of the prostate gland. It is a 5-alpha reductase inhibitor and works by decreasing the amount of dihydrotestosterone in the prostate gland.
Flomax does not reduce the size of the prostate gland. It is a selective alpha-1 antagonist and it generally takes 2-3 weeks to have a clinical effect.