Pediatric Eye Care & Eye Exams in Park Slope

Does Park Slope Eye see infants, children, and teens?

Yes. Park Slope Eye provides pediatric eye care for children of all ages, from infancy through the teen years.

Pediatric eye care can assess how well a child sees, whether they are nearsighted, farsighted, or have astigmatism, how the eyes line up and work together, how they focus, and the health of the eyes using age-appropriate testing.

When should a child have an eye exam?

An InfantSEE assessment for babies 6 to 12 months old and a comprehensive eye exam before school are useful milestones for families to know about. Children with symptoms, a failed screening, known risk factors, or a parent or pediatrician concern may need evaluation sooner or more often.

Does Park Slope Eye participate in InfantSEE?

Yes. Park Slope Eye participates in InfantSEE. Qualifying InfantSEE assessments for babies 6 to 12 months old are available at no charge. An InfantSEE assessment gives families an early opportunity to check visual and eye-health development even when a baby cannot yet describe what they see.

See what happens during an InfantSEE assessment in Brooklyn.

Booking InfantSEE: Select Pediatric Comprehensive Eye Exam in the online scheduler. For a qualifying InfantSEE visit for a baby 6 to 12 months old, the assessment is provided at no charge; the team recognizes the InfantSEE visit when you arrive with your baby.

Is a school or pediatrician vision screening the same as a full eye exam?

No. Vision screenings are useful for identifying some children who may need further evaluation, but they are not comprehensive eye examinations. A full eye exam can assess refractive error, eye alignment and focusing, and eye health in more detail.

If a child has symptoms, a known eye concern, a failed screening, or a family concern about vision, a comprehensive eye exam can provide more information than a screening alone.

When does myopia management become relevant?

Myopia means nearsightedness — distance vision becomes blurry while near vision may remain clear. When a child’s myopia is progressing, simply prescribing stronger glasses corrects the blur but does not by itself address progression.

Park Slope Eye offers myopia-management options including Stellest glasses, NaturalVue daily contact lenses, Ortho-K, and low-dose atropine. The choice depends on the child’s prescription, rate of change, age, eye health, lifestyle, comfort with contact lenses, and family preferences. Treatment is individualized; no method can guarantee that myopia will stop progressing.

Compare Ortho-K, low-dose atropine, and soft myopia-control contact lenses.

Learn about myopia management and Ortho-K.

When is a child ready for contact lenses?

There is no single minimum age that works for every child. Maturity, hygiene, motivation, prescription, eye health, and family support matter more than an arbitrary birthday.

For children who are ready, contact lenses may be used for routine vision correction or, in appropriate cases, as part of a myopia-management plan.

Read our parent guide to contact-lens readiness.

Can retinal imaging be used during a child’s eye exam?

Often, yes. Many children, including children as young as about 5, do very well with our Optos retinal imaging. It takes a high-resolution, wide-angle picture of the inside of the eye in just seconds and does not touch the eye. In many routine pediatric exams, it gives us the retinal view and documentation we need without using dilating drops.

Dilation is still recommended when the child’s symptoms, risk factors, or examination findings make it clinically necessary. If we recommend dilation, we will explain why.