How to improve air circulation?

I've got a Early 2011 13" MBP which I use for photo editing. I find that the cooling system is severely lack in the sense than anything more than a basic touch up causes the fan to spin up loudly, while the system pretty much slows to a halt. I'm not talking a heavy editing, just moderate. Something like using the dodge and burn tools in aperture over a small area.

I have replaced the thermal paste, which has done wonders to performance but still isn't best. I wonder if there's a way to increase air circulation. I've noticed that with the MBP retina's, they have vents at their base. I was wondering if those base will fit on the regular MBP. That or is there any other way to improve circulation. Perhaps removing the optical drive completely so that it can pull air in from the side? It's not ideal, but I'm really looking for improvement. I've upgraded to 16GB RAM and SSD in hope of fixing it but it hasn't helped.