[JonnyM]

I think if someone else is focusing and pressing the shutter button it's not a true self-portrait just for the fact of getting someone else involved. What if you don't want the legitimate focus to be on the eyes, is the button presser then having a creative input?

I had to do a self-portrait yesterday for an application as I had no recent photos of myself. Yes, focusing is an issue but I fortunately have a Canon 60D with an articulated screen and live view in addition to a remote shutter release. I had to manually prefocus and it was fairly hit and miss but I achieved a good frame in approximately 20. You could get something to take your place and focus on that and use atleast f5.6.