Prescribing a corticosteroid treatment requires a three-step strategy: a) to chose the appropriate drug, its dosage regimen, and its route of administration; b) to reduce the side effects by taking the status of the patient into account, and by adopting various preventive recommendations; c) to reduce the dosage before deciding to stop treatment according to specific rules. This "good practice" of corticosteroid therapy makes it a well tolerated and observed treatment, and alleviates the fears that is often created in the patient and his physician.