In vivo and in vitro skin permeation of recombinant ^(125)I-EGF through normal. stripped and the first degree burn skin were studied. The in vitro skin permeation rate through the first degree burn skin (296 cpm/㎠/hr) and the stripped skin (1131 cpm/㎠/hr) were 3.5 times and 13 times higher, respectively, as compared with the one through normal skin. In vivo absorption study with the first degree burn skin, the peak concentration of EGF in the skin was achieved at 1-3 hr and decreased afterward up to 8 hr with an elimination constant of 1.31 × 10³g/㎖/hr. To investigate the higher elimination rate of EGF in burn skin, binding and metabolism studies were conducted. No significant metabolism of EGF in burn skin (100℃, 5second burning) was observed. With the presence of unlabelled-EGF, ^(125)I-EGF permeation through the burn skin showed higher permeation rate than the one without unlabelled-EGF. The result may indicate that EGF-receptor binding play a role in determining the skin permeation rate.