I have balls in my ears too where the holes are, dw its just cause you have a ring of like healed skin inside he ear. I left mine out for about two years after them hurting cause i was wearing cheap earings. Brought some more expensive earings, and went to claires accessories and brought a bottle of the cleaning stuff they gave me when i first got them pierced. i ceaned the earings before i put them in. then once at night before bed leaving them in my ears. Slept with them in for about 2 weeks and problem solved... hope this helped