MySQL agregar columna si no existe

Si su host no le da permiso para crear o ejecutar procedimientos, creo que encontré otra forma de hacerlo usando PREPARE/EXECUTE y consultando el esquema:

SET @s = (SELECT IF(
    (SELECT COUNT(*)
        FROM INFORMATION_SCHEMA.COLUMNS
        WHERE table_name = 'table_name'
        AND table_schema = DATABASE()
        AND column_name = 'col_name'
    ) > 0,
    "SELECT 1",
    "ALTER TABLE table_name ADD col_name VARCHAR(100)"
));

PREPARE stmt FROM @s;
EXECUTE stmt;
DEALLOCATE PREPARE stmt;