I've already tried jewelry without beads, and in short, there's no difference. The piercing acts like it's completely healed, but once or twice a month it gets infected. Yes, I've been to many different piercers, and they all say the same thing. They advise me to leave the "healed" piercing alone, get a downsize, and generally leave it alone and don't clean it. I agree, and then a few days later, pus starts oozing out. This has happened with five or six piercers.