Based on the data of a NAMCS type survey undertaken in two Swiss cantons, Vaud and Fribourg, in early 1981 (in the framework of a programme of the Swiss National Science Foundation), in which 205 physicians participated, a study was made to better delineate the characteristics of medical visits by adolescents (10 to 19 years of age). The sample used includes data of over 6000 physician visits. (Every seventh visit was recorded.) It was found that, in general, adolescents consult less often than either children or adults. They see more frequently a doctor whom they did not know before (p less than .001). General practitioners are their main source of care, pediatricians playing only, especially for teenagers over 15 years of age, a very limited role. The most frequent reasons for the visit are ENT and respiratory affections, then skin and musculo-skeletal problems. A psychiatric diagnosis is only rarely given. As compared with children and adults, adolescents show a high rate of short visits (less than 5 minutes - p less than .001) and a low rate of visits including therapeutic counseling/exchange (p less than .05). This trend is more marked in the pediatricians' visits than in the general practitioners' (p less than .001). These results illustrate the difficulty teenagers experience in deciding whether and where to go to a doctor on the one hand and, on the other hand, the difficulty physicians have in adequately addressing their demand. Information about youth's health needs should be intensified among the medical profession as well as among the adolescents themselves.