In Italy, the purchase of a wig is tax deductible after medical treatments such as chemiotherapy or dideases such as alopecia.

In these cases, the wig is recognized as care costs, since it helps correcting the damage from a disease and, at the same time, it provides help for psychological discomfort.

For both reasons the wig is for health care, and the Tax Office recognizes – after a medical certificate and eventually a medical prescription – that it benefits for a 19% of Irpef discount (in accordance with Article 15, paragraph 1, letter c of the “Testo Unico delle imposte sui redditi”).

The wig is considered a medical device from the Ministry of Health;
it is considered medical device any instrument or appliance, used alone or in combination, intended by the manufacturer to be used with the purpose to attenuate or alleviate disease or injury. Therefore, after a medical certificate, the wig is recognized as used to overcome the psychological difficulties arising from hair loss. It is furthermore recognized as prosthesis and it needs to be marked CE, under the Directive 93/42/EEC.

In case of pre-existing health insurance policies it is recommended to check the conditions of your insurance coverage for prosthetics and specifically for the wig to these assimilated.