diff --git a/skimage/_shared/vectorized_ops.h b/skimage/_shared/vectorized_ops.h
index 29026490..ab9647ea 100644
--- a/skimage/_shared/vectorized_ops.h
+++ b/skimage/_shared/vectorized_ops.h
@@ -12,12 +12,8 @@
 #include <stdint.h>
 #elif defined(_MSC_VER)
 #define inline __inline
-#if (_MSC_VER < 1300)
-typedef unsigned short uint16_t;
-#else
 typedef unsigned __int16 uint16_t;
 #endif
-#endif
 
 /**
  * Add 16 unsigned 16-bit integers using SSE2, MMX or Altivec, if