A medical instrument, in particular a hysteroscope, has a shaft part (12) having a first shaft and an optical system having a second shaft (40), in which the shaft part (12) and optical system can be displaced with respect to one another along the shafts thereof such that, in a first position, the second shaft (40) of the optical system extends beyond the first shaft of the shaft part (12) on the distal side and that, in a second position, a distal end (23) of the first shaft of the shaft part (12) comes to rest approximately level with a distal end (41) of the second shaft (40) of the optical system.