Francis Burian--founder of the treatment of facial clefts in Czechoslovakia.

Prof. F. Burian, the founder of Czechoslovak Plastic Surgery, belonged to the world-wide scale among the most prominent pioneers of this field. His main interest and professional concern was devoted to the problems of facial clefts. The present communication reviews the gradual development of surgical repair of cleft lip and palate from the early twenties to the late fifties at the Department for Plastic Surgery in Prague, headed by Prof. F. Burian.