Charlotte Wood will be able to eat chocolate eggs for the first time this Easter.

Previously chocolate would have aggravated the five-year-old's chronic eczema, leaving her skin cracked and bleeding and reducing her to tears. Charlotte will be able to enjoy the chocolate this Sunday thanks to the ingenuity and perseverance of her mother, Tracy, who invented a natural cream to treat the painful skin complaint.

Not only has the cream, made from the herbs chickweed and marigold, virtually cured the eczema suffered by Charlotte and her younger brother, Robert, but Tracy has been swamped with letters from parents around the world asking for pots of the healing ointment.

Mums and dads she has helped have dubbed it the "magic cream" because it also seems to help such other skin disorders as acne and psoriasis.

Tracy said: "It has been incredible. I have had so many parents writing to me asking for help. I never thought it would become so popular and bring relief to so many people. When your children suffer from something like eczema sometimes you feel there is nothing you can do."

Last November the Argus reported how Tracy, of Kings Avenue, Newhaven, had turned to natural remedies after becoming fed up with slathering her children's skin with the steroid creams often used to treat eczema.

Since our story ran she has received letters from more than 400 people asking for samples of the cream. The ointment has travelled as far as Australia, the United States, New Zealand and Portugal to help parents in distress. Tracy, 35, has joined the Institute of Inventors for advice and is looking for a distributor to help supply the cream.

She said: "I have had letters from parents thanking me because their children can now go swimming when they couldn't before because of the eczema. It has expanded beyond my wildest dreams. If I can help other parents I want to because many probably don't realise this is here and it works."

As for Charlotte, she is just excited about sampling chocolate eggs. She said: "I like the colour of Easter eggs and they taste yummy. I'm glad I can eat them now."