Nonqualified Deferred Compensation Plan - Additional Information (Detail) - USD ($) $ in Millions	12 Months Ended
Sep. 24, 2016	Sep. 26, 2015	Sep. 27, 2014
Deferred Compensation Arrangement with Individual, Postretirement Benefits [Line Items]
Mutual funds	$ 0.0	$ 5.6
Gen-Probe Incorporated [Member]
Deferred Compensation Arrangement with Individual, Postretirement Benefits [Line Items]
Compensation expense for the DCP discretionary contributions	$ 37.0	29.4
Nonqualified Deferred Compensation Plan [Member]
Deferred Compensation Arrangement with Individual, Postretirement Benefits [Line Items]
Maximum employee contributions from base salary, percentage	75.00%
Maximum employee contributions from annual bonus, percentage	100.00%
Employee contributions vested, percentage	100.00%
Contributions, vesting period, years	3 years
Compensation expense for the DCP discretionary contributions	$ 3.1	1.8	$ 3.7
Investment in group life insurance contracts	$ 36.0	$ 27.5

Employee contributions vested, percentage.

No definition available.

Name:	holx_EmployeeContributionsVestedPercentage
Namespace Prefix:	holx_
Data Type:	num:percentItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

The vesting period for discretionary employer contributions, which vest ratably on an annual basis.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	holx_EmployerContributionsVestingPeriod
Namespace Prefix:	holx_
Data Type:	xbrli:durationItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Cash surrender value of group life insurance contracts at the balance sheet date.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	holx_InvestmentInGroupLifeInsuranceContracts
Namespace Prefix:	holx_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	debit
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

Maximum employee contributions from annual bonus percentage to dcp.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	holx_MaximumEmployeeContributionsFromAnnualBonusPercentageToDcp
Namespace Prefix:	holx_
Data Type:	num:percentItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Maximum employee contributions from base salary percentage to dcp.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	holx_MaximumEmployeeContributionsFromBaseSalaryPercentageToDcp
Namespace Prefix:	holx_
Data Type:	num:percentItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Mutual Funds

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	holx_MutualFunds
Namespace Prefix:	holx_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	debit
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

Nonqualified deferred compensation plan annual contribution.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	holx_NonqualifiedDeferredCompensationPlanAnnualContribution
Namespace Prefix:	holx_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	debit
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Line items represent financial concepts included in a table. These concepts are used to disclose reportable information associated with domain members defined in one or many axes to the table.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_DeferredCompensationArrangementWithIndividualPostretirementBenefitsLineItems
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:stringItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_BusinessAcquisitionAxis=holx_GenProbeIncorporatedMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_DefinedBenefitPlansDisclosuresDefinedBenefitPlansAxis=us-gaap_OtherPostretirementBenefitsIndividualContractsTypeOfDeferredCompensationDomain
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type: