A capsular tension ring inserter (10) and method includes a cannula (54) adapted to house a capsular tension ring (CTR) (26) having a leading eyelet (32), a hook element (56) disposed within the cannula (54) that engages and moves the CTR (26) during deployment, and a suture (28) placed on the leading eyelet (32) and fed back through the cannula (54) to allow a user to control insertion of the CTR (26) into a capsular bag (42) of an eye (40) by pulling on the suture (28) during insertion of the CTR (26).