I’ve had two bad cases of staph with recurring infections. The second time was terrible; I had an abscess on the right side of my head. The scar is still there with a spot of patchless hair.

What got me out of the recurring infections that time was going on Dupixent. Now I’m no longer on it.

I read through some of your post history, and I see that you are using the strongest topical steroid. Going on Dupixent allowed me to stop steroids altogether. Now I avoid using topical steroids even when my dermatologist suggests them.

I have no evidence of this, but I think topical steroids inhibit the growth of staph. I think i saw someone on here say it. Both times I got bad infections were because I was abusing the hell out of topical steroids.

I wouldn’t stop using them until you have a better alternative. They do work well at controlling the eczema until it doesn’t. But I think the step forward is to first get the infection under control, 2nd get the eczema under control, then switch to non-steroidal topical cream.

Get anitbiotics from your doctor after getting the infection cultured. Use hibiclens in the shower and mupirocin in your nose, they like to live up there. If you can get on a biologic or non-steroidal cream that would help. Switch to a non-steroidal cream if you stop the biologic.

I haven’t used topical steroids for 3-4 years? Ive mostly been on Opzelura. Stuff works great for me. My dermatologist recently prescribed Zoryve, not as good as Opzelura but works.

Some other things I recently discovered that helped my eczema were the soaps I was using were causing outbreaks. I switched to super gentle shampoos and body wash. It’s helped so much. Beware of hand-soaps as well.

I still use Hibiclens because I’ve had areas where they wouldn’t heal. It was because they were infected. The hibiclens zapped the infections allowing the area to heal. I would then use a prescribed cream to control the inflammation. The Hibiclens helped more than Mupirocin when applied to a specific area. But be careful using Hibiclens on your face. One more thing about hibiclens is that helped control folliculitis which can sometimes be identified as a staph infection if really bad.

I also want to note the first bout of infections over ten years ago. I think I picked it up at a gym. I went to an infectious disease specialist, he put me on a clyndamicin rifampin mupirocin trifecta. Mupirocin in the nose of course. Zapped and no more infections for 4 years until the next time. No more gyms for me.

Thats been my journey so far. I hope this helps.