I do take your point - to clarify, I understood from the dermo that steroids will dispel the local flare-up of eczema, but won't dispel the child's overall tendency to eczema. If the child is lucky, its tendency to eczema will reduce with age (very sorry to hear that you are still affected.) My experience with emollients is that they mostly have a palliative/preventive effect, and are rarely effective in making a flare-up go away But I also agree with you that each case is different and that one should try everything and just go with whatever works.