diff --git a/core/lib/Drupal/Core/Entity/Sql/SqlContentEntityStorageSchema.php b/core/lib/Drupal/Core/Entity/Sql/SqlContentEntityStorageSchema.php
index 600527b..be85cd7 100644
--- a/core/lib/Drupal/Core/Entity/Sql/SqlContentEntityStorageSchema.php
+++ b/core/lib/Drupal/Core/Entity/Sql/SqlContentEntityStorageSchema.php
@@ -191,7 +191,40 @@ public function requiresFieldStorageSchemaChanges(FieldStorageDefinitionInterfac
       return FALSE;
     }
 
-    return $this->getSchemaFromStorageDefinition($storage_definition) != $this->loadFieldSchemaData($original);
+    $storage_definition_schema = $this->getSchemaFromStorageDefinition($storage_definition);
+    $original_schema = $this->loadFieldSchemaData($original);
+
+    // Filter out irrelevant schema.
+    return $this->removeIrrelevantSchemaKeys($storage_definition_schema) != $this->removeIrrelevantSchemaKeys($original_schema);
+  }
+
+  /**
+   * Remove irrelevant schema keys.
+   *
+   * We need to remove irrelevant schema keys before comparing two schemas to
+   * see if they've changed as there are certain keys that can safely be added
+   * at any point to existing schema. E.g. initial or initial_from_field.
+   *
+   * @param array $schema
+   *   The schema array.
+   * @param array $remove_keys
+   *   (optional) An array of keys to remove regardless of the depth.
+   *
+   * @return array
+   *   The schema with any irrelevant keys removed.
+   */
+  protected function removeIrrelevantSchemaKeys(&$schema, $remove_keys = ['initial', 'initial_from_field']) {
+    foreach ($schema as $key => &$value) {
+      if (is_array($value)) {
+        $this->removeIrrelevantSchemaKeys($value, $remove_keys);
+      }
+      else {
+        if (in_array($key, $remove_keys, TRUE)) {
+          unset($schema[$key]);
+        }
+      }
+    }
+    return $schema;
   }
 
   /**
diff --git a/core/modules/system/system.install b/core/modules/system/system.install
index 96765e1..d9df274 100644
--- a/core/modules/system/system.install
+++ b/core/modules/system/system.install
@@ -1653,7 +1653,6 @@ function system_update_8014() {
  */
 function system_update_8018() {
   foreach (\Drupal::entityTypeManager()->getDefinitions() as $entity_type_id => $entity_type) {
-
     /** @var \Drupal\Core\Entity\EntityDefinitionUpdateManagerInterface $manager */
     $manager = \Drupal::entityDefinitionUpdateManager();
 
@@ -1666,14 +1665,6 @@ function system_update_8018() {
 
     // Update the existing uuid field which has a new schema.
     if ($entity_type->hasKey('uuid') && $definition = $manager->getFieldStorageDefinition('uuid', $entity_type_id)) {
-
-      // @TODO, see if we can remove this because right now SqlEntityStorageSchema::requiresFieldStorageSchemaChanges()
-      // compares the schemas directly and prevents the update.
-      $schema = $definition->getSchema();
-      $schema['columns']['value']['initial_from_field'] = 'UUID()';
-      $property = new ReflectionProperty($definition, 'schema');
-      $property->setAccessible(TRUE);
-      $property->setValue($definition, $schema);
       $manager->updateFieldStorageDefinition($definition);
     }
   }