Acne vulgaris is a common disease in clinic. At present, there are various treatment methods for acne vulgaris. The main treatment principles are anti-androgen, anti-infection, regulating keratosis, lipid suppression and so on. The advantages of western medicine treatment are rapid effect, complete dosage form and convenient use, but with the extension of use time, it may be accompanied by certain drug side effects, lack of targeted medication and other defects. With the progress of traditional Chinese medicine treatment, the external application of traditional Chinese medicine has unique advantages, which is convenient to improve the clinical symptoms of patients with high safety. This article mainly summarizes the clinical characteristics of acne vulgaris and the external treatment of traditional Chinese medicine, in order to provide reference for clinical treatment of the disease.