Abstract Interviewers in the three community pharmacies in Maryborough, Central Victoria, Australia, collected data over four weeks from 830 people obtaining 1,011 skin related products. At the same time, the general practitioners in the area recorded all patients seen with skin related conditions, the management they required and the diseases for which they were treated. Over 70 per cent of the products obtained were non-prescription items, the sources of recommendation for these being pharmacy staff (39 per cent), family (27 per cent), medical practitioner (19 per cent) and other sources (15 per cent). Purchasers of one-third of the OTC products had already sought advice at some stage from their medical practitioner; 57 per cent of these products were subsequently bought on advice from sources other than their medical practitioner. For 34 per cent of the OTC purchases the consumers had described their symptoms to pharmacy staff, and in one third of these the consumer had at some stage seen a medical practitioner about the condition. Of those who described symptoms within the pharmacy, 55 per cent were seen only by a pharmacy assistant, the remainder being seen at some stage by the pharmacist. More consumers with inflammatory skin diseases purchased an OTC product from a pharmacy than visited their GP. All people with suspected neoplasms consulted a GP rather than a pharmacist. Education programmes are required to ensure that pharmacists have adequate knowledge of the conditions for which OTC skin products are available. Public education is required to ensure that consumers who seek advice for skin disease in the pharmacy do so from the person in that environment who is appropriately qualified to give it.