A prospective study was conducted for 13 months to determine the prevalence of skin disease in AIDS patients in the Lome teaching hospital. 99 of the 120 AIDS patients (75 males, 49 females) examined during this period had skin diseases (82.5% of the cases). This prevalence was 59.99% during 1 to 3 months of AIDS evolution, 81.77% during 4 to 6 months, and 100% after 6 months. The principal skin diseases were: pruritic papular eruption (33.33%), oral candidiasis (25%), herpes zoster (16.16%), hair dystrophies (13.13%), xeroderma (14.60%), furuncle (10%), seborrheic dermatitis (6.66%), Kaposi's sarcoma (5%) and recurrent folliculitis (4.16%). Thus, the skin diseases were common in AIDS patients in Lome, Togo, and tended to be more frequent as immunodeficiency progressed. Dermatological examination remains important in the detection of HIV infection and AIDS.