The National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey provides data on the "who," "for what complaint," and "to whom" for office visits to office-based physicians. In 1974, complaints referable to the skin accounted for 44 million physicians visits. This represents 7% of the 634 million visits to physician offices made during this period. Dermatologists accounted for 34% of all visits for skin complaints. General and family practitioners accounted for 40% of such encounters. Office visits prompted by dermatologic complaints were frequently less than 16 minutes long. Each office-based dermatologist accounted for an average of 5,600 patient visit per year. According to the dermatologist's diagnosis, 31% of these visits were prompted by acne; warts accounted for an additional 8%.