diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 8e3af201..673cd2a3 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@
 * CHANGED: Removed support for ZeroBin & v1 pastes - since release 1.3 the v2 format is used (#551)
 * CHANGED: Removed use of base64 & rawinflate libraries (#551)
 * CHANGED: Removed support for `privatebin_data`, `privatebin_db` & `zerobin_db` model class configurations, must be replaced with `Filesystem` or `Database` in `cfg/conf.php`, if still present
+* CHANGED: Removed unused columns in database schema of tables `paste` & `comment`
 * FIXED: Name mismatches in attached files (#1584)
 * FIXED: Unable to paste attachments from clipboard (#1589)
 
diff --git a/doc/Installation.md b/doc/Installation.md
index 3dd342e0..ec246c09 100644
--- a/doc/Installation.md
+++ b/doc/Installation.md
@@ -186,7 +186,6 @@ CREATE TABLE prefix_comment (
     pasteid CHAR(16),
     parentid CHAR(16),
     data BLOB,
-    nickname BLOB,
     vizhash BLOB,
     postdate INT,
     PRIMARY KEY (dataid)
diff --git a/lib/Data/Database.php b/lib/Data/Database.php
index 3949b3ba..245cda7e 100644
--- a/lib/Data/Database.php
+++ b/lib/Data/Database.php
@@ -256,22 +256,18 @@ class Database extends AbstractData
             return false;
         }
         $meta = $comment['meta'];
-        unset($comment['meta']);
-        foreach (array('nickname', 'icon') as $key) {
-            if (!array_key_exists($key, $meta)) {
-                $meta[$key] = null;
-            }
+        if (!array_key_exists('icon', $meta)) {
+            $meta['icon'] = null;
         }
         try {
             return $this->_exec(
                 'INSERT INTO "' . $this->_sanitizeIdentifier('comment') .
-                '" VALUES(?,?,?,?,?,?,?)',
+                '" VALUES(?,?,?,?,?,?)',
                 array(
                     $commentid,
                     $pasteid,
                     $parentid,
                     $data,
-                    $meta['nickname'],
                     $meta['icon'],
                     $meta['created'],
                 )
@@ -304,10 +300,8 @@ class Database extends AbstractData
                 $comments[$i]['id']         = $row['dataid'];
                 $comments[$i]['parentid']   = $row['parentid'];
                 $comments[$i]['meta']       = array('created' => (int) $row['postdate']);
-                foreach (array('nickname' => 'nickname', 'vizhash' => 'icon') as $rowKey => $commentKey) {
-                    if (array_key_exists($rowKey, $row) && !empty($row[$rowKey])) {
-                        $comments[$i]['meta'][$commentKey] = $row[$rowKey];
-                    }
+                if (array_key_exists('vizhash', $row) && !empty($row['vizhash'])) {
+                    $comments[$i]['meta']['icon'] = $row['vizhash'];
                 }
             }
             ksort($comments);
@@ -677,7 +671,6 @@ class Database extends AbstractData
             '"pasteid" CHAR(16), ' .
             '"parentid" CHAR(16), ' .
             "\"data\" $dataType, " .
-            "\"nickname\" $dataType, " .
             "\"vizhash\" $dataType, " .
             "\"postdate\" INT$after_key )"
         );
@@ -872,6 +865,10 @@ class Database extends AbstractData
                     'ALTER TABLE "' . $this->_sanitizeIdentifier('paste') .
                     '" DROP COLUMN "attachmentname"'
                 );
+                $this->_db->exec(
+                    'ALTER TABLE "' . $this->_sanitizeIdentifier('comment') .
+                    '" DROP COLUMN "nickname"'
+                );
             }
         }
         $this->_exec(
diff --git a/tst/Data/DatabaseTest.php b/tst/Data/DatabaseTest.php
index 303d780b..ac735bdc 100644
--- a/tst/Data/DatabaseTest.php
+++ b/tst/Data/DatabaseTest.php
@@ -93,7 +93,6 @@ class DatabaseTest extends TestCase
 
     public function testDatabaseBasedAttachmentStoreWorks()
     {
-        // this assumes a version 1 formatted paste
         $this->_model->delete(Helper::getPasteId());
         $original                          = $paste                                = Helper::getPaste(array('expire_date' => 1344803344));
         $paste['meta']['burnafterreading'] = $original['meta']['burnafterreading'] = true;
diff --git a/tst/ModelTest.php b/tst/ModelTest.php
index 00cc378e..09c17802 100644
--- a/tst/ModelTest.php
+++ b/tst/ModelTest.php
@@ -485,6 +485,6 @@ class ModelTest extends TestCase
         $vz        = new Vizhash16x16();
         $pngdata   = 'data:image/png;base64,' . base64_encode($vz->generate(TrafficLimiter::getHash()));
         $comment   = current($this->_model->getPaste(Helper::getPasteId())->get()['comments']);
-        $this->assertEquals($pngdata, $comment['meta']['icon'], 'nickname triggers vizhash to be set');
+        $this->assertEquals($pngdata, $comment['meta']['icon'], 'vizhash was generated');
     }
 }