infected cartilage?

—————sorry this is a little gross lol —————

hi,

so i got my cartilage pierced 6 months ago. i took care of it everyday, then stopped after about 3/4 months. now, i think it’s infected because when i wake up there’s a bit of a crust around the earring, and recently there’s been some pus too. what should i do about this? i feel like cleaning with the homemade salt/water solution isn’t going to do much, and i’m wondering why it’s infected now

any help is appreciated!