An ophthalmic illumination device has an illuminating body. The illuminating body has a through-opening whose side wall is formed by a member made of an opalescent material. A light source is housed inside the illuminating body and a light-guide adapted to radially convey light beams emitted by the light source towards an axis of the through-opening is positioned between the light source and the opalescent member. The ophthalmic illumination device can generate extremely homogenous shafts of light, while minimizing occurrences of dark portions.