I used Buzz Simplifier for the background and shirt, then tried to tone down some of the hot spots with cloning.
Color corrected the hand to more closely match face.
Then used PWL layer to brighten eyes, hair, skin contours.

forum discussion: http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1006&message=27956849&changemode=1
original image by Rui Pinto: