iSee: Using deep learning to remove eyeglasses from faces

The task of removing eyeglasses from faces is not a new one, by far. A hefty amount of scientific literature documents a variety of image processing algorithms to remove eyeglasses, often for the goal of improving facial recognition technologies. Using some thoughtful math with features such as contrast, edges, and congruency, these techniques typically detect and subtract the image pixels containing the glasses and then synthesize the obfuscated facial region through smoothing or inference. Despite the ingenuity, these algorithms can fall short at the recognition of the glasses and/or the reconstruction of the face. They can also notably struggle with generalizing across different skin tones and correcting for shadows, magnification, and glare caused by the frames and lenses.