A system (20) for easily transferring an intraocular lens (IOL) from aninserter into a patient's eye The systemin-cludes an inserter handpiece (22) with a holding station (30) for receivingor storing an IOL The IOL may bepre-loaded within the holding station during manufacture, and the inserterhandpiece coupled to a delivery tube (26) so that the entire system isready for use by a surgeon to implant an IOL The IOL may have an optic (32)and leading and trading haptics (34,36) coupled tothe optic, and the holding station may be capable of manipulating the hapticsas desired to facilitate transfer of the IOL throughthe delivery tube into the eye For instance, the holding station may fold oneor both of the haptics over the optic Preferably, theholding station maintains the haptics in their folded positions duringtransfer of the IOL into the delivery tube The holding stationdesirably maintains the IOL -in a relaxed configuration during storage A smallopening (120) on one side may be provided tointroduce a narrow tool for folding one of the haptics over the optic
