An ophthalmic surgical instrument for severing a lens of an eye has an elongated shaft and a snare formed by a wire extending along the elongated shaft and having a looped segment that moves between contracted and dilated configurations. When the shaft is inserted through the pupil and the looped segment is placed around the lens, the bottom portion of the looped segment engages and severs a bottom portion of the lens upon moving toward the contracted configuration. A light-conducting element extends along at least a portion of a length of the looped segment, and a light source is in communication with the light-conducting element, such that light from the light source travels through the element and illuminates at least a portion of the length of the looped segment. The light-conducting element can be a tube surrounding the wire, or can be a solid filament extending adjacent the wire.