1. An automated method for detecting red-eye defects in a digital image comprising: (a) identifying and labeling an image segment that includes a potential red-eye defect in the image based on a red chrominance component and a luminance component of a color map; (b) eliminating a segment as a candidate for having a red-eye defect, said eliminating including testing said segment and a boundary region of said image surrounding said segment for a plurality of attributes to determine if each said attribute exceeds a pre-determined threshold value; and (c) recording a location, size and member pixels of a segment that survives said eliminating and is confirmed to have a red-eye defect of said image.