diff --git a/docs/changelog/7.x.x.txt b/docs/changelog/7.x.x.txt
index 70560e7ba..1776f3cd3 100644
--- a/docs/changelog/7.x.x.txt
+++ b/docs/changelog/7.x.x.txt
@@ -11,6 +11,7 @@
  - fixed #11621: Documentation Error: Methods that accept URLs should indicate whether or not to include Gateway
  - fixed #11457: Carousel broken
  - fixed #11455: Wrong use of Extras macro?
+ - fixed #11715: "Empty" user profile fields: not in userProfileData / cannot delete
 
 7.9.8
  - fixed #11651: First Day of Week is a string...
diff --git a/docs/upgrades/upgrade_7.9.8-7.9.9.pl b/docs/upgrades/upgrade_7.9.8-7.9.9.pl
index 14b70bc79..9cef9ef30 100644
--- a/docs/upgrades/upgrade_7.9.8-7.9.9.pl
+++ b/docs/upgrades/upgrade_7.9.8-7.9.9.pl
@@ -22,6 +22,7 @@ use Getopt::Long;
 use WebGUI::Session;
 use WebGUI::Storage;
 use WebGUI::Asset;
+use WebGUI::ProfileField;
 
 
 my $toVersion = '7.9.9';
@@ -33,6 +34,7 @@ my $session = start(); # this line required
 # upgrade functions go here
 addIndexToUserSessionLog($session);
 addHeightToCarousel($session);
+synchronizeUserProfileTables($session);
 
 finish($session); # this line required
 
@@ -64,6 +66,23 @@ sub addHeightToCarousel {
     print "DONE!\n" unless $quiet;
 }
 
+#----------------------------------------------------------------------------
+# Describe what our function does
+sub synchronizeUserProfileTables {
+    my $session = shift;
+    print "\tMake sure that userProfileField, and userProfileData tables are aligned correctly... " unless $quiet;
+    my $dbh         = $session->db->dbh;
+    my $fields = WebGUI::ProfileField->getFields($session);
+    foreach my $field ( @{ $fields } ) {
+        my $columnInfo = $dbh->column_info(undef, undef, 'userProfileData', $field->getId)->fetchrow_hashref();
+        if (! $columnInfo) {
+            printf "\n\t\tDeleting broken field: %s", $field->getId;
+            $session->db->deleteRow('userProfileField', 'fieldName', $field->getId);
+        }
+    }
+
+    print "  ...DONE!\n" unless $quiet;
+}
 
 # -------------- DO NOT EDIT BELOW THIS LINE --------------------------------
 
diff --git a/lib/WebGUI/ProfileField.pm b/lib/WebGUI/ProfileField.pm
index 9e5cbcc9e..2e31d0cd3 100644
--- a/lib/WebGUI/ProfileField.pm
+++ b/lib/WebGUI/ProfileField.pm
@@ -170,7 +170,7 @@ sub create {
 
     # Add the column to the userProfileData table
     $db->write(
-        "ALTER TABLE userProfileData ADD " . $db->dbh->quote_identifier($fieldName)
+        "ALTER TABLE userProfileData ADD " . $db->dbh->quote_identifier($id)
         . $dbDataType
     );