I used to work in a place with loads of ear specialists and they said never to use the tips as it can push the wax closer to the ear drum. What you're meant to do is put olive oil in your ear until it softens the wax up and the wax falls out naturally.
Using antibiotics is madness as it doesn't speed up recovery ear infections and makes you more likely to get more in the future. They kill all the good bacteria in your body and it will take you one year to get them back. However, someone does get to make some money from those antibiotics, so probably best for them to keep quiet about the fact they shouldn't be used for this
http://articles.mercola.com/sites/ar...-part-two.aspx