Skin troubles

My poor little man has had extreme dry skin practically from birth.. I had thought at first that maybe it was just from having to be underneath those UV lights for so long because of jaundice. But it just kept getting worse and he started developing some patches (some were bad patches) of eczema. When it started itching so much that it would bother him in his sleep I knew it was time to see a dermatologist. We had tried so many OTC lotions, prescription hydrocortisone and another prescription for a steroid cream, that one helped but had to be applied several times a day and went dairy free for awhile.

When we got the appointment for the dermatologist I really figured that they would look at him and write us another prescription. Instead they looked at him and said it was one of the worst cases of extreme dry skin/eczema they had seen on someone that little in a long time. So, they wrote us a prescription, gave us a coupon for a skin renewing lotion, some samples of dove soap and told us to bathe him almost every day and put prescription stuff on the really bad spots and cover him in the lotion. And then told us they want us to see a specialist. I'm so nervous about this! 

Have you dealt with extreme dry skin or ezcema? What have you tried? Did it work?