Objective To summarize the herb category characteristics in Chinese medicine external treatment for psoriasis vulgaris （PV）.Methods The researchers searched CNKI to find the literature related to PV from 1965 to 2016

and then the data were input into Excel 2007 to classify and summarize the characteristics of herb category in Chinese medicine external medicine for PV.Results A total of 115 articles were included with 230 formulas.There are 20 types of herbs

in which heat-clearing herbs are the most commonly used （535 times）

followed by blood-invigorating and stasis-dissolving herbs （151 times）

toxin-attacking

insecticidal and antipruritic herbs （136 times） and tonifying herbs （115 times）; the cumulative frequency is 65.20%.In the heat-clearing herbs

the most frequently used are heat-clearing and dampness-drying herbs

heat-clearing and toxin-resolving herbs as well as heatclearing and blood-cooling herbs.In the blood-invigorating and stasis-dissolving herbs

the most frequently used are blood-invigorating and menstruation-regulating herbs （47.02%） as well as blood-invigorating and pain-relieving herbs （26.49%）.In the tonifying herbs

the most frequently used are blood-tonifying herbs （53.04%） and Qi-tonifying herbs （31.30%）.Conclusion The therapeutic principles of the external treatment for PV in Chinese medicine are clearing heat and cooling blood

invigorating blood and dissolving stasis

resolving toxins

killing bugs and relieving pain as well as tonifying the deficiency and moistening dryness.Heat-clearing herbs are most mainly used

followed by blood-invigorating and stasis-resolving herbs.