I am extremely disappointed with our experience at Marietta Eye Clinic on August 5, 2026. Our one-year-old daughter had an appointment at 1:35 PM, and we arrived on time. She received her first dilating eye drops around 2:00 PM and a second round around 2:20 PM because her pupils had not dilated enough. One thing that concerned us from the beginning was the way the drops were administered. We understand that giving eye drops to a one-year-old is difficult because a small child will naturally resist and close or move her eyes. However, the way it was handled gave us the impression that the staff administering the drops had very little experience dealing with children this young. A significant amount of the medication ended up running onto and covering parts of her face instead of just going into her eyes, and her face was not wiped or cleaned afterward. This later became especially concerning because she developed significant redness and irritation on the areas of her face where the drops had been left on her sensitive skin. If a clinic accepts one-year-old children as patients, the staff administering medication should be experienced and prepared to safely handle children of that age. At approximately 2:44 PM, a staff member confirmed that her pupils were fully dilated and told us we were ready and simply waiting for the doctor. We then waited for well over an hour with no meaningful update while patients who arrived after us were seen before us. Our daughter became extremely distressed and cried heavily, and the redness across her face became very noticeable. Despite having administered medication to a one-year-old, no one came to check on her or noticed the reaction. My husband eventually asked when the doctor was coming and was told she would be there shortly. We waited again, but nobody came. When our daughter became too distressed to continue, my husband told them we were leaving without the examination. What happened next was probably the most disappointing part of the entire experience. The staff member immediately handed us a paper for the front desk, almost as if our decision to leave was of no concern at all. There was no attempt to find out why we were leaving after waiting so long, no attempt to have the doctor see our daughter, and no one checked the redness and irritation on her face. The response at the front desk felt just as indifferent. We honestly left with the strong impression that it did not matter to them whether our daughter was examined or received any medical care at all. We had been referred by our pediatrician specifically for an eye evaluation, yet after hours at the clinic and two rounds of eye drops, our daughter left without ever being examined by the doctor. The reaction on her face frightened us enough that we considered taking her to the ER because we initially did not know whether it was an allergic reaction or whether it could progress and affect her breathing. Thankfully, after washing her face and monitoring her, it remained limited to her skin. I want to be fair: the staff were polite when speaking to us, and that is the only reason I am giving one star. The problem was not rudeness; it was the lack of attention, communication, proper handling, follow-through, and concern. I understand that medical offices can run behind, but after giving medication to a one-year-old, leaving medication all over her face without cleaning it, leaving her waiting for over an hour after she was ready for examination, seeing patients who arrived later, failing to notice her skin reaction, and then showing virtually no concern when her parents finally gave up and left is unacceptable. We trusted this clinic with our daughter’s care, but we left feeling as though whether she actually received that care simply did not matter.
