Removing "Lens blur" halos in shallow DOF photo

I'm working on a portait where I want to give it a more shallow DOF (depth of field) than originally shot. In other words: I want to turn the background blurry while the foreground and subject should be sharp. I decided to use the Lens blur filter (Filter-Blur-Lens blur) for this.
Basically I just duplicated the image to a new layer, turned that layer into a smart object, added lens blur to it, then used a gradient filter on the mask in order to make the blur fade away in the front (just like a camera lens wide open would). Finally I used a brush to carefully remove (mask) the blur from the subject, revealing the (unblurred original image) bottom layer.
The problem is that the blurred layer also introduces a "halo" around things which isn't very attractive (see screenshots below). Is there a way to make the background blurry without adding halos? I've tried Gaussian blur as well but the same problem was there. I'm using Photoshop CS4 on a Mac.
Original image
Duplicated layer blurred (lens blur) -notice dark "halo" above hair
Masked to reveal sharp (original) layer for subject. The halo is of course still there. Not very flattering

Mask it ahead of time, using Refine Edge to make a new masked layer showing just the portion of the image you want in the foreground.
Then use the mask to select the subject in the background, expand the selection some, then use Content Aware Fill to remove the subject from the background.
THEN blur the entire background. The results can end up surprisingly believable.
Refine Edge makes it possible to do quite complex subjects...
-Noel

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CameraLensBlur.png
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If this post or another user's post resolves the original issue, please mark the posts as correct and/or helpful accordingly. This helps other users with similar trouble get answers to their questions quicker. Thanks.
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Insanity is hereditary, you get it from your children
If this post or another user's post resolves the original issue, please mark the posts as correct and/or helpful accordingly. This helps other users with similar trouble get answers to their questions quicker. Thanks.

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He who is neck deep in converting third party data files for a deadline doesn't always have 24 seconds or a spare machine to test on. :-)
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Removing "Lens blur" halos in shallow DOF photo

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