Open A Eye

Inspiration

Most patients sign consent forms for surgeries they've never actually seen. Health literacy, language, and rushed appointments mean the people who most need to understand a procedure are the ones least likely to. We wanted to put the anatomy in the room — literally — so understanding doesn't depend on who your doctor is or how much you already knew walking in.

What it does

Open A Eye is a multiplayer AR experience on Snap Spectacles. A doctor and a patient, both wearing Spectacles, see the same 3D eye floating between them. The doctor pinches and drags to position the model; the patient pinches to walk through the stages of cataract surgery — healthy lens, clouding, incision, removal, IOL implant — at their own pace.

How we built it

Lens Studio + TypeScript on Snap Spectacles. SpectaclesSyncKit handles the colocated multiplayer session and state replication; SpectaclesInteractionKit gives us pinch detection and drag manipulation. We modeled the surgery stages as separate GLB prefabs and wrote a custom sync script that mirrors a stage index across both headsets, while a separate sync channel mirrors position so doctor-side drags appear smoothly on the patient.

Challenges we ran into

Setting up multiplayer was extremely difficult. It took multiple hours and it was very hard to debug. Initially we used Claude and his MCP server with Lens Studio. However that proved to be ineffective. I made many mistakes and they did not work at all. Eventually we decided to learn it ourselves and we mastered Lens Studio.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

We're very proud that we are able to go from zero Snap Spectacle experience to a full working product with multiplayer features and custom models.

What we learned

Spectacles multiplayer is powerful but unforgiving — timing, ownership, and network IDs all have to be exactly right or nothing works. We also learned how much friction is hidden in "informed consent" today, and how much of it is a UX problem disguised as a clinical one.

What's next for Open A Eye

More procedures: cardiac, orthopedic, dental, neuro — anything that benefits from a shared 3D walkthrough. Voice-driven narration so the doctor's hands stay free. And clinical pilots with surgeons and patient advocates to measure whether AR consent actually improves comprehension and outcomes for the communities that need it most. Translation features that work.

Built With

• and
• dreams
• hope
• lensstudio