Dead Stretch

A dead stretch is using the blunted end of a piece of body jewelry to stretch (i.e. stretching without the aid of a taper) an existing piercing (note: this is a local term and not in common circulation, similar to terms such as "gauging").

Utilizing this method, new and larger jewelry is butted up against either an existing piece of jewelry or just the empty piercing and then literally forced in, often leading to blowout, or laceration of the flesh tube (fistula) by external threading. Needless to say, using a taper is a much safer and easier way to stretch your piercings.