An intraocular lens injection device comprises a tubular housing (125, 610,710, 810) with a passagewayextend-ing along its longitudinal axis and a plunger shaft (105, 620, 720,820) disposed within and movable along the passageway. Thetubular housing and the plunger shaft have frictional engaging features thatare configured to produce a varying plunging frictionas the plunger is moved along its operating range, to offset changes in theplunging resistance that arise from injecting the IOLinto the eye. The variable plunging friction may comprise one or more stepchanges in unloaded plunging friction, or a curvedvariation in plunging friction, or both, along at least a portion of theoperating range of the plunger shaft. In some embodiments, aslot (640) of varying width in the housing frictionally engages a tab (630)extending transversely from the plunger shaft. In others,a contoured surface on the plunger shaft frictionally engages an orifice (730,830) in the tubular housing.
