Objective To investigate the clinical efficacy of traditional Chinese medicine mask combined with intense pulsed light (IPL) in the treatment of post-inflammatory hyperpigmentation (PIH) of acne. Methods A total of 400 patients with postinflammatory hyperpigmentation of acne admitted to Wuhan Mylike Medical Cosmetic Hospital from January 2022 to Janu ary 2024 were randomly divided into control group and observation group, with 200 patients in each group. The control group was treated with IPL, and the observation group was treated with self-made traditional Chinese medicine mask on the basis of the control group. The number of pigmentation, pigmentation area, pigmentation degree and clinical efficacy were compared between the two groups. Results The scores of pigmentation number, pigmentation area and pigmentation degree in the two groups after treatment were lower than those before treatment, and the scores of pigmentation number, pigmentation area and pigmentation degree in the observation group after 8 and 12 weeks of treatment were lower than those in the control group (P <0.05). The total effective rate of treatment in the observation group was higher than that of the control group (P <0.05). Conclusion Traditional Chinese medicine mask combined with IPL has a good effect in the treatment of post-inflammatory hyperpigmentation of acne, which can effectively improve the number of pigmentation, pigmentation area and pigmentation degree of patients, and is worthy of clinical use.