Utilization of physician services for dermatologic complaints. The United States, 1974

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%.