The Cuban comedian Ulises Toirac spoke candidly about the eye condition that threatens his vision and acknowledged that he still lives with the fear of becoming “partially blind” or, as he puts it, “functionally blind”.
The statements appear in the interview «Ulises Toirac: Memories. The Struggles and the Desire to Continue», published on the YouTube channel CubamásTV as part of the podcast Todos Hablan. This Tuesday, the artist himself shared a revised transcription of the conversation on Facebook for those who were unable to watch the full video.
When asked about one of the most difficult moments in his life, Toirac pointed directly to his vision health. "Right now [...] I am going through a pretty tough time with my eyesight," he acknowledged before explaining that he lost the focus of one of his eyes.
According to the description, the disease affects precisely the center of the retina. "A kind of small vessels dilate and deform," and as a consequence, the central part of vision, which is necessary for reading and recognizing faces, begins to fail.
The comedian illustrated very vividly how he perceives this deterioration: straight lines may begin to appear curved, and the center of the image becomes blurred.
However, he clarified that he has not completely lost his ability to navigate. "I can see perfectly well where I am walking and I can see where I am going," he said. The problem is concentrated in that central area he needs to distinguish details accurately, and he stated that, in one of his eyes, it has already "passed on to a better life".
The situation became even more concerning when he began to experience similar symptoms in the other eye. This time, knowing what was happening, he urgently visited the doctor.
Toirac explained that, despite the available medical advancements, the treatment does not allow for reversing the damage that has already occurred. "What has been achieved [...] is to halt that process, not to cure it," he stated.
To try to halt the progression of the disease, he began a treatment involving intraocular injections. The hope, as he explained in the interview, is to prevent further deterioration of the vision in the eye that started showing the same symptoms.
Later, she identified her condition as macular degeneration and acknowledged that the fear of losing more vision remains.
"That fear hasn't gone away. That illness doesn't get cured," he stated. He added that the factors capable of triggering the process again are still there, which is why he lives "constantly with the threat of becoming partially blind."
Toirac then introduced an even more personal definition: “or as I would say, occupationally blind”. His fear is not solely related to moving around or seeing what is in front of him, but rather to losing the visual ability necessary to perform his job.
"It would make it impossible for me to read, it would make it impossible for me to write," he explained. For a comedian who has also built an extensive career as a screenwriter and writer over the decades, that possibility would have direct consequences on a significant part of his professional life.
Fear has even prompted him to anticipate a potential further decline. Toirac mentioned that he has already researched what tools he could use on a mobile phone if he were to lose enough visual sharpness.
Among the options they have explored are systems that would allow them to continue writing through dictation and stay informed without relying on conventional reading. "For me, these are incredibly important elements," they noted.
The topic reemerged later in the conversation when discussing dictation tools available on mobile phones. Toirac replied that he was already aware of them because when he considered the possibility of going blind, he began to research those options.
The artist also did not hide the emotional impact of that uncertainty. "You feel a hell of a lot of fear because professionally it would be... can you imagine?" he expressed.
He even resorted to humor to explain one of his fears: he imagined the difficulties he might face in entering a stage and orienting himself correctly on the proscenium if his vision deteriorated. After the joke, however, he acknowledged the seriousness of the situation again: “It really would be a brutal blow”.
Despite the diagnosis and the possibility of greater vision loss, Toirac said that he tries not to let fear dictate the way he lives.
"We come only once, and every minute must be lived as if it were the last, and we must learn in that minute as if it were the first," he reflected. "There are always ways to fight, and there are always ways to move forward."
The eye problem is not new. In August 2025, Toirac publicly revealed that he was suffering from an incurable eye disease and that he was starting to detect symptoms in his second eye.
A few days later, he reported that he had begun a treatment to try to halt the progression of visual deterioration.
After one of the procedures, the comedian expressed gratitude for the support he received and reported that the intervention had gone well.
His decision to seek medical treatment in Cuba even sparked questions on social media, to which he publicly responded days later.
Now, more than a year after making the diagnosis public, Toirac makes it clear that the concern continues: the treatment aims to manage a condition that, as he explained, has no cure, while he prepares even to adapt his writing and working style if he loses more vision.
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