Why does it still hurt to sleep on my cartilage piercing?

[Anonymous]

I've had it for almost a year and a half now, it's not infected or anything but when I sleep on it, it gets really red/sore the next day.

[Jxpxtxr]

Piercings can get infected even a long time after you first got them so it might actually be infected and in an early stage if the skin around it isn't red yet but it might also be that it's just the irritation of sleeping on it that causes it to hurt.
If I fiddle around on my nostril piercing for a longer period of time it starts hurting too.

[Intraluminal]

Because you've got a hunk of metal in your cartilage that doesn't belong there. Take it out and you'll feel better.

[Curmudgeon]

Where I live, I think every plant that can pollinate does, massively, and sinusitis is rampant. Might it be that?