We departed from Dr. Kerns at Arlington Loudoun Pediatric Opthalmology because, while she was great when we first starting taking our sons there years ago, her bedside manner and patience has diminished. I didn't appreciate how her tone was with my children, how her tone was with me, and the correspondence she allows to leave her office is very rude. It's a shame because she was first recommended to us because she had a reputation for working well with children on the autism spectrum, and we were satisfied, so I'm not sure what has changed to change her demeanor. I'm giving her three stars instead of one because she does do good work, but being approachable is also part of being a good doctor. read more

The front office is atrocious. Dr. Kern seemed to provide good care, but the front office needs communication lessons.

Terrible attitude toward children. The assistant came in rushed and anxious and described things to my 10 year old in fast complex terms. Made no attempt to form a bond or reassure her anxiety. I had to describe everything she said using non medical terminology. Unimpressed. They need to train staff on how to work and interact with children. That said the doctor came in and was the exact opposite. Unfortunately her mood was already downtrodden. read more

Long story, shorter: -Unprofessional staff that are rude and confrontational -Super long wait times -Dishonest and fraudulent billing behaviors -Not good with children -Rude, bitchy receptionists that lie -Disorganized -Sloppy practice AVOID! read more

Melissa Kern, MD - DO NOT GO TO THIS PRACTICE! - Ophthalmologists Near Me - Sterling, Virginia

My son has been a patient of Dr. Kern for a few years, and during this time we've observed the practice go downhill. After a collection of experiences with the support staff leading up to and on the day of our recent visit, it was clear the time had come to make a change. Prior to the appointment, the scheduler and biller were appallingly rude when I called to inquire about insurance related questions, and at the appointment the tech was oddly combative with both my child and myself. Friends in my neighborhood group highly recommended Dr. Wei in Arlington, Dr. Amy Jeffery in Falls Church and Dr. Jennifer Dao in Springfield, so looking forward to finding a better practice for my son's next appointment. Also, as others have mentioned, this office is notoriously behind schedule, which was often mind-boggling since anytime we'd been there, there weren't many patients in the office to begin with. read more

Always long waits but that's not the reason for my low review. I have been taking my kids here and had good experience but that all changed when I brought my toddler who did not want to cooperate during the eye exam. I went with what the doctor suggested, 3 adults holding her and she forced my child's eyes to open so she could look inside. This was not my experience when I went to a different doctor. Eye exam was conducted without any force. read more

This was the worst experience i had for my child, they claim to be a pediatric office but have no patients and experience with children, from the nurse to Dr Kern which was so annoyed of a 3 year old who was one scared to even be in a doctor office setting to making unprofessional remarks to even pushing us out the door as fast as she could and the front office staff is horrible, i was never informed that they don't take vision insurance they only take medical insurance, and they did not summit my visit claims properly and i had to contact my insurance to verify which turned out to be a even skeptical issue because what they are billing me is not what they billed insurance. Tryed to get clarification and supervisor front desk was tremendously rude and unprofessional did not let me speak and hear me out. I will never return to this office nor recommend it to anyone ever! read more

Dr Kern has been providing exceptional care for my daughter's severe myopia for the past 4 years. We've experienced only the best bed-side manner, Dr Kern has been really great working with my daughter since she was 2 years old. All the other pediatric specialists we have seen over the years know Dr Kern and confirmed that we couldn't be in better hands. read more

Best experience when working with specialists working with my kids. Dr Kern is an expert who takes time to explain and educate parents and kids. Shes been great working with my daughter and is great in explaining with us each step of the way, including our daughters need for glasses and working to improve her eyesight. Couldn't ask for much more. read more

As so many of the other reviews describe, this place is horrible, please do not take your children here. Dr.Kern and her staff are very rude and unprofessional... trust me and all of the other reviews, stay away!! read more

This was my daughters 2nd visit to see Dr. Kern. Currently she is 2 years old and we have to monitor a potential issue. Since I'm the mutant child in my family, I've been diagnosed with a mild case of NF (neuro fibromatosis). This means that my daughter most likely has it also, lucky for us she has a mild case of it as well. The concerns are it can effect the vision. This is why we have to go see an ophthalmologist . All is well with my daughter and Dr. Kern has provided us with all the necessary info we need. Dr. Kern has a very friendly staff. They are able to handle kids of all ages. My 2 year old daughter had no issues with the Dr. Kern and staff. They know how to keep the child's attention. They don't mind acting silly and talking funny to prevent the child from going crazy. They have little toys the use to get the child's attention. Their office is clean and has enough toys to keep the toddlers all happy. My daughter loved playing with the doll house and the fire truck. If you need a pediatric ophthalmologist I'd say give them a go. If you do go, ask to see the freaky horse in the corner. I thought it was funny, but on our last visit, the horse made a kid cry =) read more

Ridiculous wait - not worth it unless you have a specific need for a specialist. 2 hours before being seen. They really need to fix this

be ready to donate a half day wait for a 20 minute appointment. and when you have to schedule something at the hospital, know they won't be flexible at all, even when your child (with way more serious health issues) has a valid reason. we've been taking our son to see Kern ever since his first doc retired (Kern's husband, Dr Deegan, who was great)...never really liked her but she seemed knowledgeable and was married to the original doc we liked so much. fast forward a few years and our son comes due for his annual exam (he had brain and eye cancer). it has to be done under anesthesia so requires a hospital visit. Our son's cancer left him with very little pituitary function. His sodium levels aren't regulated like normal so his fluid intake and urine must be monitored closely. as such, when he has to go NPO for 8 hours prior to anesthesia we have to time it right as to not throw the sodium out of wack, which would require a stay in the PICU to fix....so its important that we time it right to avoid something crazy happening. When we found out we were scheduled at 10a we asked if we could switch it to the first appointment due to these concerns and were told "no, if you don't like it then we can recommend another provider"..wow..great bedside manner, especially when one considers that the patient is 4 years old! its not like we are being difficult, its out of concern for our son's other, more important health issues that we request the early time slot. We are willing to postpone his check up to make it work but instead get the disrespectful response. Find another provider who isn't satan read more

Oh my goodness the wait!!! I have nothing but wonderful things to say about Dr. Kern herself though. The office needs to learn that it's a pediatric office, meaning it's for children, and asking children to wait 2 hours is unacceptable. If it weren't for her wonderful demeanor and successful surgery and cure of my child's issue, there is no way I would put up with the wait. There are no other doctor's offices that could get away with it. read more

After taking both of my children to Dr. Kern for many years now, I have finally reached the end of my rope with her practice and will not be returning. The office staff is incredibly unprofessional and oftentimes rude. The practice has been sporadic in their calls to confirm appointments. Upon not receiving a confirmation call once, my husband and I each left messages to confirm an upcoming appointment, which went unreturned. Then we received a nasty message when we didn't show up for the appointment. More recently, I had to reschedule an appointment. I spoke with someone who told me she had cancelled our first appointment and rescheduled it for a different date and time, which I wrote in my calendar. When the date of the first appointment (which I had rescheduled) was approaching, we DID receive a confirmation call for an appointment on the original date. I called more than 24 hours in advance of the original appointment and left a message letting them know that we would not be there for that appointment, since I had rescheduled for a different date. Apparently no one in the practice ever checks the voice messages, because I got a message on the date of the original appointment stating that we had missed the appointment and would have to pay a $75 no-show fee. I had to call and leave a message stating that they had messed up and that we would not be paying them any no-show fee. Fast forward to the date of the rescheduled appointment, and again, I received no confirmation call. When I called the date of the appointment to confirm, someone did answer the phone, and she told me that my child was not on the schedule for the day. I gave her an earful about what a mess their office is, and she said she would talk to Dr. Kern about trying to squeeze us in that afternoon, promising to call back. To no surprise, she never did call back. When I called again that day to see if they could get us in (since I had rearranged my day), I was put on hold, then transferred to a woman named Elaine. When I explained the situation, she was of no help. I told her I would be switching practices, and she seemed to absolutely not care one bit. Dr. Kern has always been pleasant, but the wait times are terrible and her office staff has been horrendous to deal with. I would never recommend anyone go there, due to the sheer level of incompetence in the running of the practice. Plus, who needs to be met with a bad attitude during every interaction with the staff? Do yourself a favor, and don't go there! read more

Great people, very friendly staff and great with kids. The reason this gets 3 stars is because they charged me a no show appointment for an appointment I didn't even make. I called them, when I initially got the bill a month ago and even though they claimed I called them in October (which I definitely hadn't), they said they would waive the fee. 30 days later, I got a notice that the fee, which was supposedly waived, was late! Get your records straight people! read more

The doctor was friendly & nice but the front desk staff was so rude. Not interested in continuing our care here if that's how we are greeted. read more

- Long wait times - Cancels appointments made months in advance to take vacation. - One secretary was especially rude! - Not conscious of patients feelings. Not worth the hassle or the wait. read more

Good morning! I love the doctors and have been taking my son for the last two years. This time around they charged us $49.00 for Refraction even thou we declined the service. After we called the help desk, they indicated it was our fault for not understanding that we would be charge, even thou we declined the service while we were there and specifically told even the doctor we didn't want the service. The understood we didn't want the device and thus did not charge us at checkout. Interesting part is normally when an office charges for refraction, you pay upfront on the day of the service and they didn't ask for it . And now send us a bill later saying we did service so pay up. Office is ready to lose a patient then to reverse the charge. It sad, but because of this experience we have to leave the practice. read more

Dr. Kern was very friendly. Desired appt was far out than I expected. All the staff was nice except for one whom I found tried to be politely fake. She was stomping and slamming the printer cover as if she was pissed. I noticed her little attitude towards me and another patient. Could be her personality, but she shouldn't be in customer service IMO. read more

Medically Dr.Kern is great and we've been seeing her for 3 years to include a successful surgery. However the waiting time is always too long. Recently we waited a full hour before seeing or doing ANYTHING at all. So be prepared to wait, which they do warn you of. Although I am not sure why my waiting an hour in their office is to be expected and acceptable to them. The Techs that do the pre doctor tests, are really hit or miss from our experience over 8 visits. If your child has challenging behavior, the sympathy is short lived. In a nut shell medically DrKern is great, but customer service wise the office could use some improvement. read more

After taking our child here for 5 years to monitor an issue and have surgery, we will not be coming back. Arrived for the 2nd post-op appt 5 mins before 1pm (appt time) office was locked until exactly 1pm. Immediately upon check in, I was presented with a surgical bill and asked to pay. I explained we were currently working with the insurance company regarding a difference in the estimate and the exact cost and I would have to wait until the matter was settled before paying. I was asked to pay a portion at this time and again stated we would not as we were working with the insurance company. Offered to pay the co-pay, but was told that would be taken at the end of the appt. Sat down and waited for the appt to begin. Was called up by the front desk after 5 minutes and told that Dr. Kern had said if I did not pay a portion of the bill at that time I would have to re-schedule the appointment until we did... I did not say a word to the front desk person but explained to my daughter we were leaving and left the office. Come to find out after a brief conversation with my husband that the bill he was working on with the insurance company was the hospital bill and NOT the bill from Dr. Kern as we hadn't even received that yet! A message was left at her office requesting that she please mail a bill for the amount owed to our home and to please call to confirm receipt of the message, but no return call has been made. A week later and we still have not received a bill. Bottom line is this, we've been taking our child here for 5 years, have sat thru endless wait times, unapologetic attitudes, rude front desk people, and lack of organization and then to be treated like this? You turn a child away from their 2nd post op visit because her parents hadn't paid a bill that hadn't even been sent? Really poor professional choices. We will not be back read more

We arrived at 9:45 to fill out new patient paperwork for a 10am appointment. We then sat in the waiting room for 90 minutes. I approached the receptionist at 11 am to ask whether there was a problem and how much longer would it be. She said that dr. Kern typically runs up to two hours of waiting in the waiting room before she sees a patient. We then finally got in and then had the eyes dilated. And the waiting began again. Another 90 minutes. This is poor scheduling at its worst. I blame dr. Kern for this since this is her practice. She should be aware of what she is making her young patients endure, never mind the poor parents subjected to 2hrs in the waiting room. read more

Could never honestly recommend this office to anyone. We finally left this practice after taking both of our kids there for 3yrs. The staff was very disorganized and turnover was frequent. We would receive "no show" fees for appointments that we never made. We then had to battle rude staff to get the charges removed. The office would regularly double book appointments so we would usually have to wait 45-1hr to been seen. The doctor was OK, but we never felt we ever had her full attention. Fortunately our childrens issues were routine, so we tolerated the above issues for as long as we did, Again, based on our experience, I would suggest looking around. read more