I have eczema, and it's a very confusing and frustrating condition. It often takes people a lot of trial and error to discover what controls their eczema because there are many things that can cause flare-ups.

I'll tell you about my experience:

I started developing it in my teens on the backs of my knees. I thought it was poison ivy, until it kept recurring and I couldn't imagine how I had gotten in any poison ivy. Because I didn't know what it was, I kept slapping cortisone cream on it and worried my parents because I was using it too often.

In adulthood, it switched to my hands. And I was a waitress! The predominant triggers seemed to be stress and irritating soaps. I asked a friendly manager if it was possible to get new soap in the dispensers and that helped. When that wasn't there, I also used this soap alternative hand cleanser from CVS. I can't find it online, it was in a small white rectangular bottle on the soap aisle, but it was similar to these - https://www.google.com/search?q=%22h...w=1366&bih=637

It went away for a long time, without me having to do anything special to it or anything, then it flared up again a couple of years later while I worked at another job. I'm also suspecting stress for that flare up.

That went away, don't remember what I did. Then it returned in the last few years while I've been working from home. I've had a terrible time with it this time. At one point most of the back of both my hands were red, there was just a tiny spot of white left. I also started developing it or another skin condition that co-exists with it like seborrheic dermatitis or something on my scalp and ears. Some dry patches are appearing on my neck, chest, and back too, hoping that doesn't turn into something bad.

For some time now, I've completely unflared-up the eczema on my hands by using this soap - https://www.walmart.com/ip/Shea-Mois...-0-OZ/43841602 It can be found it many stores, not hard to find. Just make sure, if you buy it, to get the one that says eczema because they sell many soaps with a similar box and I can't vouch for those.

Nothing works for my other issues so far.

During my horrible hand flare-up, I tried Benedryl, Celexa, many many lotions, wearing gloves at night with the lotion, a prescription cream, different soaps, and changing my diet to naturally improve my gut health and maybe impact my neurotransmitters that way.

For my scalp and ears, I've tried lotions, different shampoos, washing less, washing more, drying my hair, and not drying my hair.

Advice:

Steroid creams and other topical, even prescription, medications are very effective in the short term, but are impractical for long term.

Like with allergy testing, try a process of elimination method of one "treatment" at a time to see what works or seems to be causing the problem. Here's a list of triggers - https://nationaleczema.org/eczema/ca...ers-of-eczema/

Track what seems to be causing the problem with a journal, or in my case, a spreadsheet. During my hand flare-up, everyday I tracked my stress level, changes in my diet, gut health, hormones, what soap I was using, allergies, whether I got a tub bath(many people recommend that), whether I was taking medication, how often I washed my hands, how well I dried off my hands, my lotion use, and how well I slept to compare to the state of my hands. I determined that the only obvious correlation I could see at that time was to my gut health. I've been eating yogurt ever since, so actually the soap and yogurt may be the magic formula for my hands.

Be aware that it can vary. Sometimes it's puffy, sometimes it's dry and flaky, sometimes it's more like water-filled bumps that "weep", the latter is the rarest for me.

Handwashing and soaps are common factors in eczema flare-ups.

Steel yourself for frustration and not understanding what the heck's going on.

I asked my doctor why it seemed to mostly be on one side of my body and he told me the location of the flare-ups doesn't mean much, like it's just random.

The burning you're experiencing may be because that skin is simply more irritated or maybe it's not eczema but a commonly co-existing skin condition? There are also fungal causes for eczema and eczema-like things. Does your steroid cream also have anti-fungal properties?