aria Berroa, gripped her 16-year-old daughter's hand, tears welling up in her eyes as she sat on a chair, her lower back exposed. The whirring sound of a tattoo needle blocking her muffled cries as it traced the outline of a heart drawn on her back.

"It's not as bad as people think it is," said Berroa, 51, referring to the sharp pain of the pricking needle. The tattoo of two overlapping hearts is her second tattoo. Her daughter watched as her mother winced in pain. "I'm never getting a tattoo," said the teen-ager as her mother's hand gripped tighter around hers.

PHOTO: Pema Norbu

Maria Berroa gets a heart tattooed on her lower back as her daughter watches.

Berroa and her daughter were at Fineline Tattoo parlor in the Lower East Side, one of the many in the neighborhood. The small tattoo parlor, wallpapered with tattoo designs of dragons, portraits and Celtic knots, was established more than six year ago by Mike Bakaty.

"I was too lazy to work and too nervous to steal," said Bakaty, 67, who has been tattooing for 26 years. Over the years, he has seen tattoos getting more exposure in mainstream society as the number of people with tattoos increased. The increase in customers has also improved the artwork in the tattoo business, he said.

Tattoos once the domain of sailors, bikers and rock stars has become popular with everyone, from celebrities to middle-aged women like Berroa. Still, there is a stigma attached to it.

"There are a lot of magazines, books, TV shows about it out there," said Bakaty. "But I don't know if that constitutes acceptance. There's still a sensational aspect to it."

It was this sensational aspect that attracted Skull, another tattoo artist at Fineline, to the business. "I like living on the edge of society," said Skull, 53, who learned the craft from Bakaty four years ago. His heavily tattooed arms with Chinese dragons, bright yellow flames and Tibetan script draws little attention in the neighborhood, but his tattoos are less accepted on the Upper East Side where few, if any, flaunt their tattoos, Skull said.

hile on the Upper East Side, tattoo culture is relatively new, it has been around for centuries in various parts of the world. The first known tattoos were found on Egyptian mummies dating back to 1300 B.C.

Tattoos resembling wood block prints were found on men and women in Japan as far back as the 5th century. In the Pacific islands of Samoa and Tahiti, tattoos were a rite of passage for warriors of certain tribes. More recently, this rite of passage has been copied by gang members in the United States to show loyalty to their gangs.

In recent times, an increasing number of women have been getting tattoos. While teenage girls are the average female customers, more women in their 30s and 40s are getting tattoos as well. "Women make up 50 percent of our customers," said Skull referring to his female customers. "They are more open to it than they've ever been."

PHOTO: Pema Norbu

Mike Bakatay tattoos Psalm 25:18 on Anthony Lomanto's neck.

At the far end of the parlor, Anthony Lomanto, stretched across a chair, his head almost resting on Bakaty's lap as he got the words Psalm 25:18 tattooed on his neck. Lomanto, a 33-year-old living in Brooklyn, cannot give a particular reason for the 10 tattoos covering his body.

"I just like them," said Lomanto, "I couldn't give you an answer."

The reasons for getting a tattoo are as varied as the designs. While a few customers get tattooed to mark special occasions, some like Lomanto get them for no special reason at all. While Lomanto's Psalm 28:15 tattoo may not be considered art, tattoos have evolved to become more sophisticated.

Today, tattoo artists have a wide range of designs from lifelike portraits, Celtic and tribal designs and Tibetan Buddhist iconography to Chinese calligraphy and paintings.

In some circles tattoos are accepted as "outsider" art much like folk art or graffiti art. "It does not have enough of a resale value," said Mehai Bakaty, Mike Bakaty's 30-year-old son, offering a reason why tattoos are not accepted as a legitimate art form.

Whether or not tattoos are of commercial value, customers like Lomanto cannot have enough of them. "They're like potato chips," Lomanto said. "You can't have just one." •