Abstract: OBJECTIVE To investigate the in vitro skin permeability of edaravone ointment and screen its best prescription. METHODS The skin permeation ability was evaluated by Valian-Chien permeation cells with isolated rat skin. The concentration of edaravone in samples was determined by HPLC, so as to investigate the effect of edaravone content, cyclodextrin type, cyclodextrin content, and azone dosage on its skin permeation ability. RESULTS The best combination of ointment prescription was composed with 6.0% edaravone, 8.0% azone and 3.0% β-cyclodextrin. The accumulative permeation amount of the ointment was (1 215.88±27.59)μg·cm^-2 in 12 h, and the permeation rate was (103.69±7.39)μg·cm^-2·h^-1. CONCLUSION Ointment has good skin penetration properties and is expected to be a new dosage form for edaravone.