diff --git a/app/controllers/users_controller.rb b/app/controllers/users_controller.rb
index 7041066bd..13d97479c 100644
--- a/app/controllers/users_controller.rb
+++ b/app/controllers/users_controller.rb
@@ -26,11 +26,15 @@ class UsersController < ApplicationController
 
   private
   def prep_image_url(params)
+    url = APP_CONFIG[:pod_url].chop if APP_CONFIG[:pod_url][-1,1] == '/'
     if params[:profile][:image_url].empty?
       params[:profile].delete(:image_url)
     else
-      url = APP_CONFIG[:pod_url].chop if APP_CONFIG[:pod_url][-1,1] == '/'
-      params[:profile][:image_url] = params[:profile][:image_url]
+      if /^http:\/\// =~ params[:profile][:image_url]
+        params[:profile][:image_url] = params[:profile][:image_url]
+      else
+        params[:profile][:image_url] = url + params[:profile][:image_url]
+      end
     end
   end