diff --git a/build_tools/circle/build_doc.sh b/build_tools/circle/build_doc.sh
index d32f7b9000b95..7fe7e8d58e90c 100755
--- a/build_tools/circle/build_doc.sh
+++ b/build_tools/circle/build_doc.sh
@@ -120,10 +120,15 @@ conda update --yes --quiet conda
 conda create -n $CONDA_ENV_NAME --yes --quiet python="${PYTHON_VERSION:-*}" \
   numpy="${NUMPY_VERSION:-*}" scipy="${SCIPY_VERSION:-*}" cython \
   pytest coverage matplotlib="${MATPLOTLIB_VERSION:-*}" sphinx=1.6.2 pillow \
-  scikit-image="${SCIKIT_IMAGE_VERSION:-*}" pandas="${PANDAS_VERSION:-*}" \
+  pandas="${PANDAS_VERSION:-*}" \
   joblib
 
 source activate testenv
+if [[ -n "$SCIKIT_IMAGE_VERSION" ]]; then
+    pip install scikit-image=="$SCIKIT_IMAGE_VERSION"
+else
+    pip install scikit-image
+fi
 pip install sphinx-gallery
 pip install numpydoc==0.8