Fundus image enhancement through direct diffusion bridges

Abstract: We propose FD3, a fundus image enhancement method based on direct diffusion bridges, which can cope with a wide range of complex degradations, including haze, blur, noise, and shadow. We first propose a synthetic forward model through a human feedback loop with board-certified ophthalmologists for maximal quality improvement of low-quality in-vivo images. Using the proposed forward model, we train a robust and flexible diffusion-based image enhancement network that is highly effective as a stand-alone method, unlike previous diffusion model-based approaches which act only as a refiner on top of pre-trained models. Through extensive experiments, we show that FD3 establishes \add{superior quality} not only on synthetic degradations but also on in vivo studies with low-quality fundus photos taken from patients with cataracts or small pupils. To promote further research in this area, we open-source all our code and data used for this research at https://github.com/heeheee888/FD3