I don't think the cream I use has cortisone in it, but then again I'm not a Dr. and it is a prescription cream, you cannot buy it over the counter because it has a steroid in it (one of the reasons I think herbal BE didn't work for me, the steroid in the cream I use probably counteracts with it). It's not a strong steroid and it doesn't make me bulk up or angry or anything like that lol, plus I only have to use it maybe a few times a year. I believe the dry scally stuff is excema, my cousin has that and she used my cream before and it cleared it up. Then she went to her dr and got a prescription for it. The type of psoriasis I have is where I get this big red rash behind my knees, as a child I got it on my lower tummy and on the fold of my elbows (on the inside) pretty much anywhere sweat was the majority of the time. The rash is red, and I wouldn't say dry cause when you touch it it has this moisture coming from it, I guess the puss? And when you itch it, it burns like you are on fire, but if you don't itch it, it itches worse than ant bites, chicken pox, etc. if you ever had any of those. And I had one of the worst cases of chicken pox in the history of my home state when I had it at I believe 9. And the psoriasis itch is worse than that. So it's like you have the urge to scratch it, but as soon as you do, you are in so much pain, and it will start to bleed as well. How my dr described it is your skin is thinning while you have an outbreak, so pretty much it IS burning your skin off! Then when you scratch, there isn't much skin so it bleeds. The cream I use never thinned out my skin, never made it white or any of that. Now my cousin with excema, her elbows are permanently white and she is hispanic, well she's half white half peurto rican, but she is naturally very dark. And her elbows are whiter than me, that was from letting her excema go untreated for long periods of time and using other creams that bleached her skin as you are talking about. The next time I have an outbreak, I'll let it go a few hours before I treat it so it shows up better and I'll take pics to show you what psoriasis looks like. But anyways, I forgot I did pack the cream in my son's suitcase, and the name of it is... Triamcinolone Acetonide Cream USP, 0.1%
I get big tubes of it when prescribed it, and before I met my hubby I had shitty health insurance and had to pay for some prescriptions, this was one of them, and my son also has the same psoriasis I do (it's genetic) and he was prescribed the same exact cream, but when they give it to him it is the same price as mine, but his tube is very tiny, and mine is 80 grams. So I just would get it for myself and use it on us both. A tube lasts me a few years, I normally end up throwing it out due to expiration before I get to use it all. The tube I have right now I've had for 2 or maybe 3 years and it expires in Oct. of next year. It is really a good cream, never had any bad side effects. My break out is always gone within a day with it, without it it spreads and spreads and doesn't stop. The longest I had to go without treating it was 3 days and it covered half my leg it had spread so much. The good thing about it is, someone else can touch it and not catch it, it's not contagious, and if I'm broke out on lets say the back of my knee and I scratch it then scratch my arm, it won't spread to my arm or anything. It will typically stay in it's location, it just spreads bigger, but doesn't show up in a new location it's never been. I've never had it on my face, or genital area, thank goodness, only legs, tummy, and arms. Hope this helps.