Refractify – Optical software against myopia
Last summer there was an Ask HN[1] about a Nature article that said bluring the blue and green color channels on screen may be good against early myopia development. The OP wanted such software and there was none available. So I quit my job and implemented this software, did a short video with a 3D artist about it. Turns out marketing is expensive, so I made an open source browser extension version too. How it works? There is a small neural network on the retina that tries to detect if the eye is far-sighted(most people are born far-sighted), and it is producing dopamine to slow or increase…
In plain words
Refractify is optical software designed to help prevent myopia development by selectively blurring blue and green color channels on screens. Based on research suggesting this approach may slow nearsightedness progression in early development, the software uses a neural network model to detect refractive properties of the eye and adjust the display accordingly. It targets people concerned about myopia risk, particularly those doing extensive near-work on screens. The maker offers both a paid desktop version and a free open-source browser extension.
written from the facts on this page · September 2026
From the sources
In the maker’s words, at launch
Last summer there was an Ask HN[1] about a Nature article that said bluring the blue and green color channels on screen may be good against early myopia development. The OP wanted such software and there was none available. So I quit my job and implemented this software, did a short video with a 3D artist about it. Turns out marketing is expensive, so I made an open source browser extension version too. How it works? There is a small neural network on the retina that tries to detect if the eye is far-sighted(most people are born far-sighted), and it is producing dopamine to slow or increase eye growth rate. It is not very smart, and if you do a lot of near-work it can think you are still hyperopic, causing further myopia progression. So, based on the refractive properties of the eye the software calculates the signal that would convince the retinal neural network that the eye is long enough, so it would produce dopamine, a known signal to stop axial eye growth. (based on myopic defocus LCA from the papers[2][3]) Some myopia control techniques work similarly, like MiSight and Hoya lenses. Since then I got a Neurobiologist co-founder and the goal is to best understand the Retinal NN to create the best anti-myopic effect that does not interfere with productivity. The effect can be tried live on the site. Also check out the github repo. Any questions suggestions welcome! [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37019143 [2] https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-022-26323-7 [3] https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S00144...
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