Eczema Support Group

I'd say long term steroid use is measured in years. For me this means being junked up on oral steroids and then being held together by using steroids as if they are diprobase.
Personally, although I hate to admit it - I love steroids!! and I would say that using, even liberally for a month or so is not entering the danger zone.
Long term steroid use is likely to give someone a somewhat transparant look and that's bad.

Thanks Angel. I wish I didn't have to use them, but they work when I have a flare-up (like now).

I'd say it's risky to use them for more than a week in six. I mean, leave long periods of non-use between the periods of use.

The risk is that you teach your body to adjust its thresholds to the input of exogenous steroids, which throws its systems out of balance. I overdid steroids once and my skin became very prone to infection as a result. Then what happened was the cream stopped working anyway.

Think of the steroid cream as a message; if you shout once they'll calm down, but if you keep shouting they'll ignore you. It's better not to shout.

Hi, I can sympathise because I currently have eczema on my face and neck, so it's quite important that I don't turn transparent!

I was told by my doctor that long term use that is classified as potentially harmful works out at daily use, two or three times a day for months on end with no break or variation in the steroid used. To be honest it depends where you're using it and what the steroid is. If it's betnovate then use with more caution; if it's eumovate, you can get away with using it even on your face for quite a while without it having much of a negative effect because it's a much weaker steroid. Hope this helps.