diff --git a/skimage/_shared/vectorized_ops.h b/skimage/_shared/vectorized_ops.h
index e426c86e..29026490 100644
--- a/skimage/_shared/vectorized_ops.h
+++ b/skimage/_shared/vectorized_ops.h
@@ -12,6 +12,11 @@
 #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
 
 /**