I got my cartilage done almost a year ago. The original earring was a traditional earring back, which irritated the piercing when I went to bed. I switched to a titanium hoop, and although it helped, it recently got inflected almost 11 months after the piercing. My friend recently switched to this flat back earring so I decided to try it out. Within a week, the swelling and pain went down, and I think it is finally starting to heal properly!