BACKGROUND: In eyes with severe organic defects the question arises if amblyopia therapy makes sense. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Three children are presented in whom despite severe organic eye diseases amblyopia therapy was tried. The first child had a unilateral large macular scar secondary to retinoblastoma treatment, the second a unilateral severe optic nerve atrophy secondary to an orbital hemangioma, and the third a unilateral large optic nerve coloboma. RESULTS: In the first case a reading visual acuity of 0.9 was achieved by occlusion therapy and in the second a reading visual acuity of 0.5. In the third case occlusion lead to alternation of the divergent strabismus (child too strongly retarded for reliable visual acuity measurements). CONCLUSIONS: During the sensitive phase, amblyopia therapy is also indicated in eyes with severe organic defects since good visual acuities can be achieved.