I wonder if topical application of ANY antifungal, assuming it actually does get absorbed into the blood, is some kind of big answer for us? If we think our infections are deep in the walls of our guts, in our cells that are supplied with our own blood supply, then yes one would think that an antifungal that is floating around in our blood would kill off that candida. Maybe even better than any orally swallowed antifungal, that only skims the surface of the gut wall.

As for Ibuprofen in particular:

The Wikipedia page says ibuprofen is available in topical gel form, absorbed through the skin, but when I followed the reference link, I found a site that implied it depends on how the product was formulated. On that site a study using a gel form of 5% Ibuprofen actually absorbed even better than oral Ibuprofen, yet other studies showed very low absorption of other formulations. Here's that link:
http://www.medicine.ox.ac.uk/bandolier/booth/painpag/topical/topkin.html


Whether something applied to the skin will absorb into the blood depends on a couple of factors, according to these two sites:

This site says that it depends on "lipid solubility" and molecule size:
cpharm.vetmed.vt.edu/VM8314/.../VM8314WilckeLecture1.ppt

And this site says it depends on "Molecule size and the hydrophilic or hydrophobic nature of the active and its medium":
http://www.yet2.com/app/insight/needofweek/7567?sid=350