near sighted -11

Hello Dr.  
My 15 years old daughter has been near sighted since 5 years old.
Her current vision has reached to  -11 (right) and -9.75 (left).  We felt so helpless and just looked at her vision get worse every year.  Is there any way to slow down ? How far this will continue ?   I am so afraid that once reach -12, she will not be able to get Laser treatment.  Also is severe near sighted more often to get retinal detachment (one of her cousin had that at teenage) ? Can she get glasses that with lower prescription, as long as she has no problem in the school classroom board ?
Please help (any suggestions) and Thanks !!
(both my husband and I have near sighted below -5)

[John C Hagan III, MD, FACS, FAAO]

There is no way to stop progressive myopia that works for everyone.  In the past bifocals and rigid contact lens have been tried. Bifocals plus atropine to keep the eye from focusing has also been tried. Finally a major operation to reinforce the back of the eye with preserved sclera (white part of the eye) has also been tried. None of these is consistently successful or widely used.

Your daughter will see better with contact lens than glasses with that degree of myopia. If not already under the care of a pediatric ophthalmologist (Eye MD) I would strongly recommend you do so. The pediatric Eye MD will likely try and fit her with rigid or soft contact lens.

Your daughter is at a higher risk of retinal detachment. That subject has been discussed at length on this forum. Please use the search feature to pull up these discussions.

When she is older if the contacts are not working well then other methods of correction include lasik (likely she is too myopic for that unless breakthroughs occur in the technology), intra-ocular contact lens (goes inside the eye) or clear lens extraction and insertion of an intra-ocular lens. These procedures involve some significant risks. Look on the other eye care forum (the link is upper left hand side of this page) look at the 6/21 posting 'lens replacement for  the non-lasik candidate'.

JCH MD