This is what I started with - an image of my love one and her double-second-cousin.

The first thing is to duplicate the image layer (CTRL + J) and run a High Pass filter on the duplicated layer. Then choose 4.0 as filter radius. WOW! Don't be alarmed, we will fix this in a sec...

The next step is to select "vivid light" as the layer blending mode. Now flatten the layers (CTRL + SHIFT + E).

Again, duplicate the layer, and do a High Pass filter on the dup. This time select 6.9 as radius and color as blending mode.

Now choose layer opacity 40% and flattened again.

Now again - duplicate the layer. Now call on the Gaussian Blur (Filter-> Blur-> Gaussian Blur) filter and set it to 9.5. Still using the dup layer, call on the noise filter (Filter -> Noise -> Add Noise) and apply 3% noise.

OK, that looks really blurry, we will do something about it. Like remove all the blur from the eyes and ....
Now add a layer mask (Layer -> Add Layer Mask -> Hide All), and select the eyes using the lasso tool (L is the short cut for this). Now invert the selection (Shift + Control + I).
Now take the brush tool (B) set the opacity to 30% and paint over the entire image. TADA! Eyes are a bit sharper then the rest of the image. Flatten again.

The final step is to apply some unsharp mask filter (Filter -> Sharpen -> Unsharp Mask). Use the following values: Amount 100%, Radius 30.0 Pixels, Threshold 0. And ....