please help

Hi! This week my daughter has been diagnosed with high or degenerative myopia. I am deeply concerned. She is only 6 yrs old and is a - 13.75 in one eye and - 12 in the other. the doctor told me their is no cure for this condition. She said that lasik could help but in the U. S. you have to be 18 yrs old to get this done. What can i do for my daughter ? I heard she can become legally blind from this condition. Is this true? She has worn glasses since she was 3, but i was told she had double ambyopia. My doc told me there is no such condition. Is this true also? This truly hurts my heart.

[Michael J Kutryb, MD]

I am very sorry for the news you have received.  I'm also very sorry in that I don't have a lot of advice on any cure or treatment.  Regarding amblyopia, I'm not sure double amblyopia is a proper term but children can have bilateral amblyopia with extreme refractive errors.  At present about all I can offer is for her to be followed by a very good, board-certified ophthalmologist with regular visits and proper glasses as prescribed.  There are no proven surgical or medical treatments that can reverse the actual process of the progressive high myopia.  Lasik surgery or lens surgery when she gets older would only try to take the place of distance glasses but would not cure any degenerative changes in the retina or sclera.  You can continue to do your own research using the usual search engines and the national site pubmed using the key works progressive myopia or pathologic myopia.

Michael Kutryb, MD

[nickppatel]

It's not true that nothing can be done.  Peruse this site, especially for dukey's posts, and use them as a springboard for your own research.  There's a lot you need to learn about her problem and the various treatments turning the corner, the most promising of which is posterior pole buckling.  Again, look at dukey's posts and kg17's posts.