Nine-year-old Olivia could be left scarred for life after the suncream her mum Louise Nickles, 28 bought during a family holiday to Mexico burnt her legs.

Horrified Louise says she frantically tried to wash the factor 50 sun lotion off Olivia’s legs after she noticed they had turned bright red and were blistering during the incident in June.

Louise says little Olivia was forced to wear leggings for the rest of her trip in the tropical heat at Playa de Carmen – and has now been left so embarrassed by her scars she refuses to wear shorts or skirts.

Louise said: “I sprayed it on her a few times throughout the day, after I applied suncream in the morning, but she still had a t-shirt on as her shoulders were a bit red.

“She said her legs were really sore later in the day and I just knew she’d been burnt.

“That afternoon she came out of the shower and I saw where I had sprayed it as it had dripped down her legs and it was bright red.

“It looked like she’d been sprayed with acid. It was supposed to stop her from burning, not cause her to burn.”

Since coming home doctors have prescribed moisturising and steroid creams but Olivia wears leggings under her school skirt because she fears other children will stare at her.

She said: “I took suncream with us but when we’d been there a few days I went into the local shop and saw they had the spray.

“I thought it would be easier to apply than a lotion.

“I’d seen it before on offer in the UK so I trusted the brand enough to use it on my daughter.”

Louise says her father Gary, 51, also came out in lumps on the back of his neck where he’d sprayed the cream.

The single mum paid 382 Mexican pesos, around £14, for the cream. 

She said: “I sprayed some on her face and she complained straight away that it was stinging and I took it off.

“On the bottle it says ‘UVA and UVB protection’ and also that it is hypoallergenic.

“You just don’t expect it to happen after you buy suncream to protect your children’s skin.”

Olivia’s grandmother, Donna Bennett, 48, said: “It looks like she’s been sprayed with a bottle of acid.

“It still keeps Olivia up at night with the pain and itchiness. It’s starting to scab and bleed and she might be scarred for life.”

Louise made an official complaint to the company that sells the suncream the day she arrived back in the UK and has posted pictures of Olivia’s injuries on their Facebook page.

Louise said: “I sent a picture of Olivia’s blistering legs to my sister back home and she replied with “Oh my god” and she sent me a link to the Facebook page where it had happened to someone else.

“It was going to be £200 to call a doctor out in Mexico.

“The day after we arrived home we saw the doctor and he said he’d never seen anything like it.

“It’s just horrible and if it does scar she will have it for the rest of her life.”