Breast implants are back and more popular than ever. In 2005, more than 360,000 women across the country got the implants.

There's a new type of breast implant surgery in Austin that leaves less scarring and pain.

Dr. Peter Driscoll just came to Austin from Louisiana and brought with him a new way to make breasts bigger.

Instead of cutting a woman open at her breasts to insert the implant, Driscoll puts them in through her belly button.

"The doctors who are in training now, they're really the ones learning it. There is a learning curve with this. This is not?something you can learn in a weekend course," Driscoll said.

The procedure has been around for more than 10 years, but not in Austin. It's popular in places like L.A. anD New York because surgeons claim, unlike other breast implant procedures, this surgery leaves no visible scar.

An electric knife is normally used for breast implant surgery. Driscoll demonstrated for KXAN using a chicken. The burning stops the tissue from bleeding.

"You can imagine, if you do this to your hand, it would hurt for a good week or two. And that's the whole point. We're able to do this procedure without this," Driscoll said.

"I've been thinking about it since I was 17 or 18, so a couple of years now," breast implant patient Megan said.

Megan is a patient of Driscoll's. She grew up in the Austin area. Megan wants bigger breasts. She wears a B cup now. She would rather have a full C or a small D, but she's not willing to take weeks to recuperate.

"I don't want to have any kind of scar or pain, and my friends that have been here before have returned to work within the next day," Megan said.

We didn't tape the actual surgery, but we did join Megan as she got ready.

"The first step we do is we make the little incision in the belly button. This is what we make our tunnel with. It doesn't cut. It has a tip to it, but it doesn't cut anything," Driscoll said. "I bring up the skin like this and then sort of milk it through."

The doctor then inserts a sizer through the tunnel and inflates it with air to form a pocket in the breast. It also stops the bleeding, just like the electric knife would do.

"Once that's done, I take it out and put the implant in the same way. And, then using this, which is saline, I put it on the outside and just inject it until it fills up," Driscoll said.

The whole procedure takes about 30 minutes.

So, how about the price? Driscoll says to get the breast implants put in through your belly button costs the same as typical breast implant surgery, which involves more scarring and burning. That cost is around $5,000 to $6,000.

Is it worth it?

We met up with Megan the day after her surgery to find out.

"That's the black marker that he drew, and then, that's where he went through? "Yeah, that's where he went through."

Megan says besides a black marker mark and a very small cut, there's no marks on her body and she's happy with the results.

"I'm doing OK. I'm a little bit sore in the stomach and the breast area, but that's about it," Megan said.

As with any surgery, there are potential consequences that go along with the desired rewards. The FDA warns with breast implant surgery, there could serious complications including chest wall deformity, rupture or deflation and infection including toxic shock syndrome.

Its always good to do your research ahead of time.

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