It's been two years since the cartilage on my upper ear has been pierced. It looks healthy on either side, but when I go to change the earring it's really painful and bleeds a bit. When I first changed it to a post-type earring, it seemed to have done better than when the original hoop earring was first placed inside. Now that I decided to change back to the hoop, it's just constantly staying sore, and it hurts so much to just nudge it. Now it hurts as much as the day I first got it pierced. Will it ever heal? I'd very much like to keep my piercing, I don't want to have to let it close up. I'm cleaning it with H2Ocean, which is a salt water-type cleaner. It's the only thing my piercer recommends.

The hole probably shrank while the post earring was in. most hoop earrings suitable for cartilage piercings are a bigger gauge than standard post earrings. It hurts because the hole is stretching.