Antitragus issue when gauging up

[CliftonGK1]

I've been working my way from 3/4" up to 7/8" and after wearing some heavy tunnels for a few weeks I taped up a pair of my single flare stainless 3/4" tunnels by 1.0mm.
They went in easy enough, just a light bit of pressure when putting them in. No different than any other upsize I've done; easier, even. But after having them in for half of the day I'm noticing an odd pressure, different than any other time I've gauged up, even when I've upped by a full 2.0mm.

The flare edge is pressing into the bottom of my antitragus on both sides. It's almost like either I'm just getting to the point where I'm finding out that my original piercing was misaligned, or the lobe is resisting stretching and it's pressing things up. Anyone else had this happen when upping a larger size? Do you think switching from a single flare to a straight with double o-rings might be the way to go?

[meetthewretched]

My cousin just started stretching hers and her advice was to maybe try a no-flare with O-rings and see if it relieves that pressure. She had a similar problem with single flared plugs, but when talking to her piercer, he said that the alignment is correct, just try another type of jewelry.