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Pa

Papaya Extract

Carica Papaya (Papaya) Fruit ExtractExfoliant

Sold as an enzyme exfoliant, but there’s no evidence it exfoliates people’s skin. In mice, papain, papaya’s enzyme, caused skin allergy.

What it does

It’s an extract of papaya fruit, sold as an enzyme exfoliant. How much papain, papaya’s protein-breaking enzyme, the extract holds isn’t documented. In lab and mouse studies, papain weakened the skin barrier and caused allergy.

The EU’s ingredient database lists it as a skin conditioner, its general term for an ingredient that keeps skin in good condition.European Commission, CosIng (© European Union, CC BY 4.0) · uses put in plain words by Drop ↗

The evidence, graded

expert consensusUS safety reviewers (2025) judged 4 papaya fruit ingredients, papaya fruit extract among them, safe as used; for papaya leaf extract they had too little data. Products use the fruit extract at up to 0.02% if left on skin and 0.25% if rinsed off. Several patch tests of products with it found no irritation or allergy. Because latex and papaya allergies can overlap, they suggest people allergic to latex take care.Ferguson 2025 · International Journal of Toxicology ↗

Graded per the methodology: strong · moderate · emerging · expert consensus. A weak source on a strong claim gets the weaker label.

Also known as

carica papaya

Pairs worth knowing

Niacinamide (Vitamin B3) · works together ↗Panthenol (Pro-vitamin B5) · works together ↗

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