Herpes zoster is a common and frequent disease in dermatology. It is often accompanied by severe neuralgia, which seriously bothers patients and affects their daily life and sleep. Therefore, the medical consultation rate is high. Our inpatient department admits more than 400 cases of herpes zoster patients every year. In the course of our work, we found a surprisingly high rate of acyclovir ointment use. What I have seen recently on the Good Doctor website is also true, and the fact that many patients either self-administer topical or get acyclovir ointment by prescription made me feel the need to write this article. Herpes zoster, including herpes simplex, is caused by infection with human herpes virus (HHV type 1, 2 or 3). The onset of the disease is due to reactivation of the virus in the latent ganglia of the body. So people (including many doctors) take it for granted that since it is a viral infection, topical antiviral drugs should be used, and acyclovir ointment has turned out to be the first choice for treating herpes virus infections because of its low price and wide coverage area. Unfortunately, this is a taken-for-granted behavior. Acyclovir ointment may be effective in the very early stages of the disease (rash-free or erythematous papular phase), but it is a wrong choice for the vast majority of patients. 1. From the pathogenesis: the herpes zoster virus is reactivated in the ganglia, travels down the sensory nerves and then to the skin, where skin symptoms appear. This herpes zoster pathogenesis process is from the inside out. This is clearly different from the usual bacterial infection of the skin. Considering the penetrating ability and the range of drugs used, topical antiviral drugs rarely affect the virus that infects the nerves, and their effect is extremely limited. 2, in terms of the principles of the use of topical drugs: when patients come to the hospital, often manifest as erythema or blisters, a small number of patients may have broken and oozing. The damage belongs to the acute stage, in the choice of dosage form should be prohibited topical ointment preparations. At this time perhaps Furfurylate lotion will be more effective than acyclovir ointment. 3, from the local fluid dynamics: herpes zoster, from the name of the disease we can see that the local lesions should be mainly blisters, and the location of the blisters is located in the epidermis. Therefore, the main local metabolic direction (this word may be used inappropriately), should be from the inside to the outside. We should follow the general laws of nature and should give guidance, and local hot and cold wet compresses may be a good choice. Want to reverse the application of antiviral drugs through the local into the deeper layers of the skin to kill or inhibit the viral infection, is estimated to be a fool’s errand. 4, from the regression of the disease: herpes zoster is a self-limiting skin disease, commonly referred to as even without intervention, the lesions can be completely healed. The actual fact is that you can find a lot of people who are not able to get a good deal on a lot of things. We can even say that a topical glucocorticoid cream may be more useful than acyclovir ointment under an effective systemic antiviral.