What to Expect at Your Child's First Appointment With Us

If you’ve never been to a pediatric ophthalmology office, it can feel like a lot of unknowns. Our goal with this post is to walk you through exactly what to expect — what to bring, what your child will go through, and what to do afterward — so it feels routine before you even walk in.

What to bring

• Your insurance cards (medical and vision, if you have both)
• Parent or guardian photo ID
• A list of medications your child takes, including any eye drops or supplements
• Current glasses, if they wear them
• A comfort item for your child — a favorite blanket, a stuffed animal, a snack, or a device with headphones for the waiting period

Our new-patient registration form is available in English and Spanish. Fill it out ahead of time, or arrive 5–10 minutes early to do it in the office.

Helping your child prepare

Kids do best when they know a little about what’s coming. A day or two before the visit:

• Keep the tone low-key. Tell them the doctor is going to “look at their eyes.”
• Mention the drops if your child is likely to be dilated (most first visits are). The drops sting for a few seconds, similar to pool water in the eyes, then stop.
• No studying required. We use picture charts for toddlers and letter charts for kids who read.

For really young kids, we turn parts of the exam into a game. We’ve been doing this for a long time.

The flow of the visit

Plan for 1 to 2 hours for a first visit. Most of that is waiting for dilation to work. Here’s how it goes:

1. Check-in. Paperwork (if you didn’t pre-register) and insurance verification. About 10 minutes.
2. Work-up with an ophthalmic technician. Vision testing, alignment checks, and dilating drops. 10–20 minutes.
3. Waiting for dilation. The drops take about 30 minutes to take effect. Great time for a snack, a book, or the wall of trivia in our waiting room.
4. Exam with the doctor. Dr. V or Dr. Borgman checks alignment, examines the front and back of each eye, and measures a prescription if needed. Usually 15–25 minutes.
5. Plan and next steps. We go over findings, answer questions, and if glasses are needed you can head straight to the optical shop.

What dilation feels like

The drops widen the pupils so we can see the back of the eye — which is where most serious things would show up. When the drops first go in, they sting for a few seconds (the feeling is similar to getting soapy water in your eyes). Then it stops.

After about 30 minutes, the pupils are wide. Near vision gets blurry and bright light feels uncomfortable. Most kids are also a little sleepy. The effect wears off in 4 to 6 hours for our usual drops. We send you home with disposable sunglasses.

After the appointment

• Bring sunglasses if you can (we’ll give you disposables if not)
• Near-vision tasks — reading, tablets — are hard for a few hours; outdoor play is fine
• If we prescribed drops or patching, start them per our instructions
• Follow-ups are scheduled at checkout and we’ll send a reminder
• Questions later? Call us. We’d rather you ask.

If we see a problem

Sometimes what brings you in turns into a longer conversation — a pair of glasses, a patching schedule, a follow-up, or rarely, a surgery conversation. We’ll walk through the options and what we’d recommend, and we genuinely try to default to less-invasive options when they’re reasonable.

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If you have any questions before your visit, give us a call at (616) 796-9995. We’d rather answer the small stuff ahead of time than leave you wondering.