A better way to remove lens flare?

I've sweated with the clone tool and the patch tool to remove the (flare?) from this scanned photo. Doing it for a friend who says the shot has some meaning to her.
I think it looks ok, but would welcome any advice on a better or easier method to do such a job.
I use PS CS3 and a Canon V500 scanner.

Thanks

Here's my version, though I am no expert. Using the supplied original image, I selected the area using the quick selection tool (CS4). Then I added a curves layer. The selection formed the mask. In CS3 you could have used the lasso plus feather or you could have added a black mask (atl while clicking on mask button of panels) and then painted in the area in the mask with a soft white brush. Then I adjusted the curves layer to add more contrast by moving the far left point to the right and moving the top right point down just a bit. I adjusted the curves until the selected flare was as dark as the surrounds. Then I added a saturation adjustment layer. I dragged the mask from the curves layer while holding the ?alt (maybe ctrl) to the saturation layer to duplicate the mask. I increased the saturation to match the surround. This left a light blue ring around the flare. I erroneously made a stamp layer on the top which doubled my file size. I should have added a blank layer (click on new layer at the bottom of the palate) and then cloned away the ring.
In summary, I increased the contrast and the saturation of the flare area and then repaired the remaining artifact with the clone tool.

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