Jellies with pierced ears: Do you get gunk in your ear piercings when you don't wear earrings for a while?

I haven’t worn earrings for years, mostly because the holes have grown in just a little bit and I can’t get an earring all the way through. However, the holes are very visible on the front of my ears and I sometimes see some gunk (dried pus? ear cheese? I don’t know what to call it). Recently, I was rubbing my ear lobe and a lot of gunk came out. This grosses me out. Now I am somewhat obsessively pinching my earlobes every week or so to clean out this whitish, cheese-smelling substance from inside my ear holes!

What is this stuff coming out of my ear piercings? How do I stop it?

It’s been long enough that I know my piercings will not close up completely. Would getting them re-pierced and wearing earrings all the time prevent this from happening? I’m not necessarily interested in wearing earrings again, but I might entertain the idea if it will make me feel like my ears are cleaner.