Forceps particularly for use in implanting eye lenses

A pair of forceps comprises pivotally connected forcep legs (4, 6) defining a forcep mouth (8), one leg (4) being fixed to a body (1) and the other leg (6) being provided with an extension (9) movably mounted in a recess (2) in the body (1). A bolt 11 contacts a cam surface (10) on the extension (9) to force the legs (4, 6) towards one another to close the mouth (8) against the action of a leaf spring (15). The bolt (11) is provided on a slider (14) which is slidably mounted in a groove in the body (1) and connected to a plunger (17), a needle (22) being attached to the slider. A helical spring (21) surrounding the plunger (17) serves to maintain the bolt (11) in the position in which the mouth (8) is closed but depression of the plunger, against the action of the spring (21), serves to move the bolt (11) to a position in which the leaf spring (15) is effective to move the legs (4, 6) to open the mouth and to cause the needle (22) to tangentially strike a lens held in the mouth (8) such that the lens is rotated during implantation.