retouching experience 101

i think i have finally come to learn something useful in my classes at school that can be applied to my work. you tell me if you see a difference ;)
(homework assignment... i'm really not that vain...)on the left is the straight out of camera image. yes, its a tad dark, but i was also dealing with a dying flash. on the right would be fully edited image. exposure corrected, color balanced, eyes brightened, teeth whitened, and skin slightly softened. slight blemish removal, and a little bit of spot healers. i tried to go crazy experiment and try and remove the scar on my hand completely, but it looked a bit funky because of the location.
i hope to try this soon on some willing volunteers, since we all know there is retouching... and then there is overkill.
one class assignment down. another one will feature this little guy...