Brief Answer:
Should determine the type of bacterial infection&get it treated adequately.

Detailed Answer:
Hi,

I have gone through the medical history and the photo your provided with the skin rash on your boyfriend's arms.

As per your saying, if he was diagnosed with bacterial infection of the skin (impetigo), then, steroids alone won't help much. He need to take oral antibiotics (even for long time, several weeks or months) to treat it adequately together with:
- keeping the area well clean (wash with warm water and soap)
- apply betadine solution locally, let it dry
- apply antibiotic cream and cover with antibiotic dressing to treat it well

If I was his caring doctor would advise to run an examination of skin scrapping together with culture of cotton swab of the affected area to determine the type of infection and sensitive antibiotics to use.

Hope it was of help! Let me know if you have other queries!
Dr.Albana

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