Hywell Williams, professor of dermato-epidemiology, at the Centre of Evidence Based Dermatology, Queen's Medical Centre, University of Nottingham has written an important article on the use of steroid creams. He believes that most steroid creams can be effectively used in once daily applications as opposed to twice or more times a day. This will cut down on side-effects and expense.
The article was published in the British Medical Journal in June of 2007. Here's a Download corticosteroid_creams.pdf
-- the Key Points follow:
Established topical corticosteroids such as betamethasone valerate have typically been used twice
daily or more frequently for treating inflammatory episodes of eczema
Reducing the frequency of application to once daily does not seem to result in loss of efficacy and
could lead to fewer local side effects
Using topical corticosteroids just once a day may be more convenient for patients and may save costs
if established preparations are used