In this paper, we describe a novel method for calibrating display-camera setups from reflections in a user's eyes. Combining both devices creates a capable controlled illumination system that enables a range of interesting vision applications in non-professional environments, including object/face reconstruction and human computer interaction. One major issue barring such systems from average homes is the geometric calibration to obtain the pose of the display which requires special hardware and tedious user interaction. Our proposed approach eliminates this requirement by introducing the novel idea of analyzing screen reflections in the cornea of the human eye, a mirroring device that is always available. We employ a simple shape model to recover pose and reflection characteristics of the eye. Thorough experimental evaluation shows that the basic strategy results in a large error and discusses possible reasons. Based on the findings, a non-linear optimization strategy is developed that exploits geometry constraints within the system to considerably improve the initial estimate. It further allows to automatically resolve an inherent ambiguity that arises in image-based eye pose estimation. The strategy may also be integrated to improve spherical mirror calibration. We describe several comprehensive experimental studies which show that the proposed method performs stably with respect to varying subjects, display poses, eye positions, and gaze directions. The results are feasible and should be sufficient for many applications. In addition, the findings provide general insight on the application of eye reflections for geometric reconstruction. (C) 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.