Second lobe piercings

I have had double lobe piercings for a few years now, but my second holes took an extremely long time to completely heal. I’m talking at least a year before I could go even just overnight without jewelry in them. Now I can leave them out longer, but if I don’t wear earrings in them every couple days or so they try to close up on me again and I have to wear earrings constantly and get them to heal up again. Is this normal?? I’ve never had this problem with my primary lobe piercings. Maybe it’s because they’re so close to where the cartilage starts? I would love to get more ear piercings in my cartilage but not sure it’s worth it if they’re going to act the same way.