They are tiny, but they can weigh heavily on the wallets of mothers and fathers. With the imminent reopening of schools, the nightmare of lice returns for a multitude of families in Italy, as in the rest of the world. These unwelcome ‘guests’ of children’s heads – and even adults’ – are capable of sparking debates (such as whether selfies are contributing to their prosperity, which has played out in some international media) and even apparently of ‘hijacking’ planes, if it is true what a passenger told at the beginning of August in a video that went viral and was relaunched by several newspapers in the Anglo-Saxon world, namely that an American Airlines flight from Los Angeles to New York ended with an emergency landing in Phoenix because some travelers had noticed lice in a woman’s hair (the company – we read in the ‘Independent’ – only spoke of a customer’s medical needs without going into detail). But another power of these parasites is to make sales graphs soar, those of treatments to prevent or fight them.
There are several experts who predict that the problem of pediculosis is increasing. Some speak of new generations of more resistant ‘super lice’, others of a post-pandemic ‘rebound’ effect. The fact is that the obligatory epilogue to solve the problem of infestation in the family is a run to the pharmacy to buy the treatment that eliminates insects and nits (eggs), and then a product to use regularly to prevent the return of the ‘enemy’. Result: in the last two years the market for dedicated products appears to be in “sharp growth”, confirming the intensification of the problem. This is what emerges from the data provided to Adnkronos Salute by Federfarma, processed by New Line Market Research. In all areas of the country, trends of over +40% are observed in the growth of the turnover of anti-pediculosis products between 2022 and 2023 and around +20% between 2023 and 2024.
Considering a 12-month period (from July of the previous year to June of the following year), the graph shows that total turnover in Italy increased by 42.3%, going from 12.8 million euros achieved between July 2021 and June 2022 to 18.3 million in the following 12 months (July 2022-June 2023). The figure then grew by a further 21.8% to reach 22.3 million between July 2023 and June 2024. The turnover of preventive products increased the most: +51.6% between 2022 and 2023 and +23.3% between 2023 and 2024. But, beyond the rate of growth, the greatest value remains that of treatments to eliminate lice, capable of generating a turnover that in the last 12 months was equal to 18.3 million. This growth obviously goes hand in hand with the increase in packages sold, both of treatment and preventive products, which rose in total from more than 778 thousand to over 1 million (+39.3%) between 2022 and 2023 and approached 1.3 million (+17.4%) in the last 12 months analyzed (July 2023-June 2024).
Focusing on one of the most populous regions of Italy, Lombardy, and on a metropolis like Milan, the trend appears to be aligned with the Italian one. The turnover of lice products in Lombardy went from 2.4 million euros in July 2021-June 2022 to 4.2 million in July 2023-June 2024, growing by 41.5% between 2022 and 2023 and by 22.2% between 2023 and 2024. The packages sold rose from more than 143 thousand to over 232 thousand (+38.2% between 2022 and 2023 and +17.4% between 2023 and 2024). Similarly, in Milan and its province, turnover increased by 42.1% and 18.7% in the two years (going from 1 million euros to almost 1.7 million) and the packages sold exceeded 90 thousand in the last 12 months (increasing first by 38.5% and then by 13.2%).
Analyzing the trend month by month, the greatest contribution to the anti-lice market is certainly given by the September-November season, traditionally a period of great diffusion of lice due to the reopening of schools and various youth centers. At the same time, in the last two years the spring period has also recorded a significant growth in consumption, a sign of how the phenomenon is now present for a large part of the year.
“Parents should always be advised to check on their children and to get to the pharmacy early, not to wait too long. Because there are so many different products, both old and new, and with careful use you can limit the phenomenon”, Annarosa Racca, president of Federfarma Lombardia, comments to Adnkronos Salute. “What is a bit of a fear of people, and that I would like to dispel, is that these products are harmful, are damaging to the hair. So sometimes there are those who, even if the indications call for a cycle of multiple applications, say: I’ll do the treatment once and never again. My advice is instead to do it as many times as necessary, to complete the course following the instructions. In fact, it’s better to do it once more than once less. It’s the only way to solve the problem in a lasting way. So do it calmly and if in doubt ask your pharmacist for advice”.
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