Papaya has been used widely in folk medicine for many ailments: the juice for warts, corns, cancers, tumors, and thickened skin; the roots or their extracts for cancers of the uterus, syphilis, the tropical infection, hemorrhoids, and to remove mineral concretions in the urine; the unripe fruit as a mild laxative or diuretic, and to stimulate lactation, labor, or abortion; the ripe fruit for rheumatism and alkalinizing the urine; the seeds for intestinal worms or to stimulate menstruation or abortion; the leaves as a poultice for nervous pains and elephantoid growths, or smoked for asthma relief; and the latex for psoriasis, ringworm, indigestion, or applied externally as an antiseptic or to heal burns or scalds, or applied to the cervix to contract the uterus.