I received a message from a piercee who I'd assisted previously. This time it was about an industrial project: two piercing in the ear cartilage connected by a single barbell.

Hi. You helped me clear up an infection last year in another piercing I have so I thought I'd contact u about a new problem I'm having with a new piercing...

I got an industrial piercing a month ago. I cleaned it 4 times a day with saline solution like the piercer advised, didn't sleep on it, didn't bother it. Well, it still hurts to the touch where the barbell enters my ear as well as throbs throughout day/night. I still can't sleep on it. Now I notice lumps at 3 entrance points. I've done a sea salt soak a day and put emu oil on the site at least once a day since noticing these lumps. I still try to clean it with saline 3 times a day. What else can I do? I attached some pics. Thank u

My reply:

There's a chance that the alignment of the two parts of your ear is not perfect and that this is causing constant pressure on the jewelry. You may need to heal with two separate pieces of jewelry in and can try to reconnect them later. Or, depending on the amount of distortion caused by the placement in conjunction with your anatomy, you may need to have the jewelry bent to conform to your ear comfortably.

As the jewelry is removed from one of the holes, look carefully to see if your ear springs back to a different position. If so, that is a solid indication of this particular problem.