Objective To investigate the correlation of the onset of acne vulgaris and Traditional Chinese Medicine（ TCM） constitution types. Methods With the assistance of two TCM professional investigators

318 patients with acne vulgaris completed the ‘TCM Constitution Type Classification and Decision Table’and ‘General Information Registration Form for Acne Vulgaris Patients’ to recorde the general information and constitution types of the patients. The distribution of TCM constitutions was analyzed with the factors of age

gender

acne levels

mental factors and genetic condition with statistical analysis. Results In 318 patients

dampness-heat type took the largest proportion

with 258 cases（ 23. 54%）

followed by yin-deficiency type

phlegm-dampness type

yang-deficiency type

qi-stagnation type

qi-deficiency type

blood-stasis type

special type and gentle type（ P < 0. 05）. Yangdeficiency type

blood-stasis type and qi-stagnation type had larger proportions in female than in male patients（ P <0. 05）. Yang-deficiency type took a higher percentage in patients after puberty than during puberty（ P < 0. 05）. The difference of constituent ratio of each constitution type in different levels of acne vulgaris and with or without genetic factors showed no statistical significance（ P > 0. 05）. The percentage of qi-deficiency type and qi-stagnation type in the patients with mental factors were larger than those without（ P < 0. 05）. Conclusion Dampness-heat type is the main constitution type of acne vulgaris. The distribution of some types were influenced by gender

age and mental factors and little by genetic factors and severity of the acne.