A South Korean startup called Edenlux is preparing to launch a new wellness device in the United States designed to help people recover from digital eye strain. The device, called Eyeary, looks like a pair of ordinary glasses but contains a sophisticated lens system with 144 focal points that guide your eye muscles through a series of exercises. The company plans to begin a crowdfunding campaign on Indiegogo around the end of March and has already established a U.S. subsidiary in Dallas, Texas, where the devices will be assembled.
The product arrives as millions of people worldwide spend hours each day staring at smartphone screens. Research shows that daily smartphone use exceeds three hours on average, with many adults reaching six hours or more of total screen time. This constant close-up exposure has been linked to dry eyes, eye fatigue, blurred vision, headaches, and worsening nearsightedness.
Background
Edenlux's founder and CEO, Sungyong Park, created the company based on his own experience with vision loss. While serving as a military physician, Park received a muscle relaxant injection for severe neck stiffness. The injection triggered a rare side effect: temporary paralysis of the eye muscles that control focusing. Doctors told him there was little he could do but wait for the condition to resolve on its own.
Instead of waiting, Park imported specialized eye equipment and began retraining his eye muscles himself. Over time, his vision gradually returned. That experience led him to develop technology to help others protect and restore their eyesight in a world dominated by screens.
"Edenlux was born out of my own struggle with vision loss during my military service. I experienced firsthand how limiting it can be when your eyes can no longer keep up with daily life. Otus began as a personal solution, but it quickly became clear that millions of people face the same challenges." – Sungyong Park, CEO of Edenlux
The company first launched a product called Otus in 2022 in South Korea, Singapore, Japan, and Taiwan. That device, which resembles a virtual reality headset, uses lenses to contract and relax the ciliary muscle—the muscle inside your eye that controls focusing. Otus has generated $10 million in cumulative revenue. With Otus, users typically needed about 12 months to reduce their dependence on reading glasses.
Key Details
How Eyeary Works
Eyeary represents a significant redesign of Edenlux's technology. The new device looks like normal eyeglasses, is lighter and more comfortable than Otus, and includes 144 diopter focal points compared to Otus's five. This allows for much finer adjustments and more precise eye-muscle training.
The device pairs with a mobile app through Bluetooth and collects data about how often and how intensely users train their eyes. That information gets sent to Edenlux's servers, where the company uses artificial intelligence to analyze the data and customize training programs based on age, gender, and individual vision profiles. The company claims Eyeary could cut the time users need to reduce their dependence on reading glasses from about 12 months with Otus to around six months, though results depend on how consistently people use the device and their individual biology.
The company's approach targets the ciliary muscle, which controls the lens inside your eye. Park explains that when people are young, this muscle is strong enough to focus easily. But constant smartphone use keeps the muscle contracted, and over time it can weaken, leading to fatigue and vision problems. Eyeary is designed to exercise this muscle and restore its flexibility.
Regulatory Path and Market Position
Edenlux is marketing Eyeary under the FDA's General Wellness policy, which allows consumer products that promote a healthy lifestyle without diagnosing or treating disease. This regulatory approach lets the company move faster than traditional medical devices, allowing it to market Eyeary for vision training and general eye health without claiming to treat specific medical conditions.
The company raised $39 million in Series A funding in 2020 and $60 million in Series B funding in 2022. Park chose to launch Eyeary through crowdfunding rather than seek additional investor money, citing sufficient cash reserves to support operations for several years.
Broader Product Pipeline
Eyeary is not Edenlux's only product in development. The company has created a suite of devices targeting specific eye and hearing conditions. Beyond Eyeary, the lineup includes Tearmore for dry eye, Lux-S for strabismus (eye misalignment), Lumia for myopia prevention, and Heary for auditory recovery. Several of these products are expected to roll out first in Asia rather than the U.S. market.
Edenlux is also exploring partnerships with major technology companies like Apple and Samsung, aiming to integrate its vision-protecting technology directly into smartphones.
What This Means
Eyeary enters a crowded market where consumers already have various options for managing digital eye strain. Blue-light filtering glasses have gained popularity, though scientific evidence for their effectiveness is mixed. People can also turn to prescription solutions like multifocal contact lenses or use low-dose atropine drops under medical supervision to slow myopia progression.
What sets Edenlux apart is its focus on active, measurable training of the eye's accommodation system—the ability to focus at different distances. Rather than simply filtering light or correcting vision, Eyeary asks users to exercise their eye muscles regularly through a structured program.
The device represents a bet that consumers will adopt a new daily habit for eye health, similar to how people use fitness trackers or smartwatches to monitor their physical health. Edenlux's target market includes anyone who regularly uses smartphones and earphones, making it a potentially vast audience.
The company's success will likely depend on whether users see measurable improvements in their eye comfort and vision, and whether they stick with the training regimen long enough to notice results. The data collection aspect also raises questions about privacy, though the company says it anonymizes usage information.
