Yes because it's a steroid that circulates in the body. I seem to be doing alright with 0.5% topical steroid. It's still early days though. I can't see why it wouldn't be helping you ? It keeps the dead skin on my lips for days on end that would have peeled and curled more quickly, so maybe what you were applying is not quite the right ointment to be using ?

It's called Eumovate maybe you could try ?