Complications from ear piercing are most times irreversible.An examples of such complications is keloid formation. It's an hypertrophic scar formation.
Swelling on ear lobe obliterates piercing lobe and sometimes lead to a spontaneous closure of the piercing.
This condition might be prevented by proper maintenance of the hole with large guage of nylon suture.
Also, complications could also result from pierced hole closure, thereby, requiring repeated piecing which could lead keloid formation, infection and severe pain.
In addition, complications in ear piercing could also result from allergies. Some persons might be allergic to nickel which is used in manufacturing most jewelries and may cause other superficial infections especially in cases of no immediate care of the ear lobe by applying antiseptic and ointment after piercing to enhance healing.