I have been reading about topical steroid addiction/steroid induced eczema - what are your thoughts on the condition, and if believed, best solution?

Discuss with MD: Controversial- red skin syndrome or burning skin syndrome has been associated with long term use of topical steroids, however if using as prescribed would be very rare. Any medication can be abused, however these are usually prescribed strength steroids and are under the guidance of the prescriber. Should not be a problem in general, as any prescribed medication warrants clinical supervision.

Tapering off steroid: This has been a challenging problem for several years. Prolonged use of topical steroids leads to erythema and some atrophy of the skin. This leads to an ever increasing strength of the topical to control it which makes it worse. Gradual tapering off the topical steroids and sometimes patch testing for possible allergy is warranted.