diff --git a/docs/architecture.qmd b/docs/architecture.qmd
index 7dfd136..1079e53 100644
--- a/docs/architecture.qmd
+++ b/docs/architecture.qmd
@@ -102,18 +102,16 @@ Here are some patterns we've considered for server-side error handling:
   border-collapse: collapse;
 }
 
-.styled-table th:nth-child(1) { width: 5%; }
-.styled-table th:nth-child(2) { width: 50%; }
-.styled-table th:nth-child(3), 
-.styled-table th:nth-child(4),
-.styled-table th:nth-child(5) { width: 15%; }
-.styled-table th:nth-child(6) { width: 10%; }
+.styled-table th:nth-child(1) { width: 50%; }
+.styled-table th:nth-child(2), 
+.styled-table th:nth-child(3),
+.styled-table th:nth-child(4) { width: 15%; }
+.styled-table th:nth-child(5) { width: 10%; }
 </style>
 
 <table class="styled-table">
   <thead>
     <tr>
-      <th>ID</th>
       <th>Approach</th>
       <th>Returns to same page</th>
       <th>Preserves form inputs</th>
@@ -123,7 +121,6 @@ Here are some patterns we've considered for server-side error handling:
   </thead>
   <tbody>
     <tr>
-      <td>1</td>
       <td>Validate with Pydantic dependency, catch and redirect from middleware (with exception message as context) to an error page with "go back" button</td>
       <td>No</td>
       <td>Yes</td>
@@ -131,7 +128,6 @@ Here are some patterns we've considered for server-side error handling:
       <td>Low</td>
     </tr>
     <tr>
-      <td>2</td>
       <td>Validate in FastAPI endpoint function body, redirect to origin page with error message query param</td>
       <td>Yes</td>
       <td>No</td>
@@ -139,7 +135,6 @@ Here are some patterns we've considered for server-side error handling:
       <td>Medium</td>
     </tr>
     <tr>
-      <td>3</td>
       <td>Validate in FastAPI endpoint function body, redirect to origin page with error message query param and form inputs as context so we can re-render page with original form inputs</td>
       <td>Yes</td>
       <td>Yes</td>
@@ -147,7 +142,6 @@ Here are some patterns we've considered for server-side error handling:
       <td>High</td>
     </tr>
     <tr>
-      <td>4</td>
       <td>Validate with Pydantic dependency, use session context to get form inputs from request, redirect to origin page from middleware with exception message and form inputs as context so we can re-render page with original form inputs</td>
       <td>Yes</td>
       <td>Yes</td>
@@ -155,7 +149,6 @@ Here are some patterns we've considered for server-side error handling:
       <td>High</td>
     </tr>
     <tr>
-      <td>5</td>
       <td>Validate in either Pydantic dependency or function endpoint body and directly return error message or error toast HTML partial in JSON, then mount error toast with HTMX or some simple layout-level Javascript</td>
       <td>Yes</td>
       <td>Yes</td>
diff --git a/docs/static/documentation.txt b/docs/static/documentation.txt
index f15677b..15713bb 100644
--- a/docs/static/documentation.txt
+++ b/docs/static/documentation.txt
@@ -322,18 +322,16 @@ Here are some patterns we've considered for server-side error handling:
   border-collapse: collapse;
 }
 
-.styled-table th:nth-child(1) { width: 5%; }
-.styled-table th:nth-child(2) { width: 50%; }
-.styled-table th:nth-child(3), 
-.styled-table th:nth-child(4),
-.styled-table th:nth-child(5) { width: 15%; }
-.styled-table th:nth-child(6) { width: 10%; }
+.styled-table th:nth-child(1) { width: 50%; }
+.styled-table th:nth-child(2), 
+.styled-table th:nth-child(3),
+.styled-table th:nth-child(4) { width: 15%; }
+.styled-table th:nth-child(5) { width: 10%; }
 </style>
 
 <table class="styled-table">
   <thead>
     <tr>
-      <th>ID</th>
       <th>Approach</th>
       <th>Returns to same page</th>
       <th>Preserves form inputs</th>
@@ -343,7 +341,6 @@ Here are some patterns we've considered for server-side error handling:
   </thead>
   <tbody>
     <tr>
-      <td>1</td>
       <td>Validate with Pydantic dependency, catch and redirect from middleware (with exception message as context) to an error page with "go back" button</td>
       <td>No</td>
       <td>Yes</td>
@@ -351,7 +348,6 @@ Here are some patterns we've considered for server-side error handling:
       <td>Low</td>
     </tr>
     <tr>
-      <td>2</td>
       <td>Validate in FastAPI endpoint function body, redirect to origin page with error message query param</td>
       <td>Yes</td>
       <td>No</td>
@@ -359,7 +355,6 @@ Here are some patterns we've considered for server-side error handling:
       <td>Medium</td>
     </tr>
     <tr>
-      <td>3</td>
       <td>Validate in FastAPI endpoint function body, redirect to origin page with error message query param and form inputs as context so we can re-render page with original form inputs</td>
       <td>Yes</td>
       <td>Yes</td>
@@ -367,7 +362,6 @@ Here are some patterns we've considered for server-side error handling:
       <td>High</td>
     </tr>
     <tr>
-      <td>4</td>
       <td>Validate with Pydantic dependency, use session context to get form inputs from request, redirect to origin page from middleware with exception message and form inputs as context so we can re-render page with original form inputs</td>
       <td>Yes</td>
       <td>Yes</td>
@@ -375,7 +369,6 @@ Here are some patterns we've considered for server-side error handling:
       <td>High</td>
     </tr>
     <tr>
-      <td>5</td>
       <td>Validate in either Pydantic dependency or function endpoint body and directly return error message or error toast HTML partial in JSON, then mount error toast with HTMX or some simple layout-level Javascript</td>
       <td>Yes</td>
       <td>Yes</td>
diff --git a/docs/static/schema.png b/docs/static/schema.png
index b47a3a1..49cacfe 100644
Binary files a/docs/static/schema.png and b/docs/static/schema.png differ
diff --git a/routers/user.py b/routers/user.py
index 2188c10..504d8d1 100644
--- a/routers/user.py
+++ b/routers/user.py
@@ -1,9 +1,10 @@
-from fastapi import APIRouter, Depends, HTTPException, Form
-from fastapi.responses import RedirectResponse
+from fastapi import APIRouter, Depends, Form, UploadFile, File
+from fastapi.responses import RedirectResponse, Response
 from pydantic import BaseModel, EmailStr
 from sqlmodel import Session
-from utils.models import User
-from utils.auth import get_session, get_authenticated_user, verify_password
+from typing import Optional
+from utils.models import User, DataIntegrityError
+from utils.auth import get_session, get_authenticated_user, verify_password, PasswordValidationError
 
 router = APIRouter(prefix="/user", tags=["user"])
 
@@ -15,16 +16,29 @@ class UpdateProfile(BaseModel):
     """Request model for updating user profile information"""
     name: str
     email: EmailStr
-    avatar_url: str
+    avatar_file: Optional[bytes] = None
+    avatar_content_type: Optional[str] = None
 
     @classmethod
     async def as_form(
         cls,
         name: str = Form(...),
         email: EmailStr = Form(...),
-        avatar_url: str = Form(...),
+        avatar_file: Optional[UploadFile] = File(None),
     ):
-        return cls(name=name, email=email, avatar_url=avatar_url)
+        avatar_data = None
+        avatar_content_type = None
+
+        if avatar_file:
+            avatar_data = await avatar_file.read()
+            avatar_content_type = avatar_file.content_type
+
+        return cls(
+            name=name,
+            email=email,
+            avatar_file=avatar_data,
+            avatar_content_type=avatar_content_type
+        )
 
 
 class UserDeleteAccount(BaseModel):
@@ -44,15 +58,20 @@ async def as_form(
 @router.post("/update_profile", response_class=RedirectResponse)
 async def update_profile(
     user_profile: UpdateProfile = Depends(UpdateProfile.as_form),
-    current_user: User = Depends(get_authenticated_user),
+    user: User = Depends(get_authenticated_user),
     session: Session = Depends(get_session)
 ):
     # Update user details
-    current_user.name = user_profile.name
-    current_user.email = user_profile.email
-    current_user.avatar_url = user_profile.avatar_url
+    user.name = user_profile.name
+    user.email = user_profile.email
+
+    # Handle avatar update
+    if user_profile.avatar_file:
+        user.avatar_data = user_profile.avatar_file
+        user.avatar_content_type = user_profile.avatar_content_type
+
     session.commit()
-    session.refresh(current_user)
+    session.refresh(user)
     return RedirectResponse(url="/profile", status_code=303)
 
 
@@ -60,27 +79,43 @@ async def update_profile(
 async def delete_account(
     user_delete_account: UserDeleteAccount = Depends(
         UserDeleteAccount.as_form),
-    current_user: User = Depends(get_authenticated_user),
+    user: User = Depends(get_authenticated_user),
     session: Session = Depends(get_session)
 ):
-    if not current_user.password:
-        raise HTTPException(
-            status_code=500,
-            detail="User password not found in database; please contact a system administrator"
+    if not user.password:
+        raise DataIntegrityError(
+            resource="User password"
         )
 
     if not verify_password(
         user_delete_account.confirm_delete_password,
-        current_user.password.hashed_password
+        user.password.hashed_password
     ):
-        raise HTTPException(
-            status_code=400,
-            detail="Password is incorrect"
+        raise PasswordValidationError(
+            field="confirm_delete_password",
+            message="Password is incorrect"
         )
 
     # Delete the user
-    session.delete(current_user)
+    session.delete(user)
     session.commit()
 
     # Log out the user
     return RedirectResponse(url="/auth/logout", status_code=303)
+
+
+@router.get("/avatar")
+async def get_avatar(
+    user: User = Depends(get_authenticated_user),
+    session: Session = Depends(get_session)
+):
+    """Serve avatar image from database"""
+    if not user.avatar_data:
+        raise DataIntegrityError(
+            resource="User avatar"
+        )
+
+    return Response(
+        content=user.avatar_data,
+        media_type=user.avatar_content_type
+    )
diff --git a/templates/users/organization.html b/templates/users/organization.html
index 2e75fa9..913598b 100644
--- a/templates/users/organization.html
+++ b/templates/users/organization.html
@@ -63,11 +63,7 @@ <h1 class="mb-4">{{ organization.name }}</h1>
                             {% for user in role.users %}
                             <tr>
                                 <td class="text-center" style="width: 50px;">
-                                    {% if user.avatar_url %}
-                                        <img src="{{ user.avatar_url }}" alt="User Avatar" class="rounded-circle" width="40" height="40">
-                                    {% else %}
-                                        {{ render_silhouette(width=40, height=40) }}
-                                    {% endif %}
+                                    {{ render_silhouette(width=40, height=40) }}
                                 </td>
                                 <td>{{ user.name }}</td>
                                 <td>{{ user.email }}</td>
diff --git a/templates/users/profile.html b/templates/users/profile.html
index 0053993..fd4ac0b 100644
--- a/templates/users/profile.html
+++ b/templates/users/profile.html
@@ -18,8 +18,8 @@ <h1 class="mb-4">User Profile</h1>
             <p><strong>Email:</strong> {{ user.email }}</p>
             <!-- Display user avatar or silhouette if no avatar is available -->
             <div class="mb-3">
-                {% if user.avatar_url %}
-                    <img src="{{ user.avatar_url }}" alt="User Avatar" class="img-thumbnail" width="150">
+                {% if user.avatar_data %}
+                    <img src="{{ url_for('get_avatar') }}" alt="User Avatar" class="img-thumbnail" width="150">
                 {% else %}
                     {{ render_silhouette(width=150, height=150) }}
                 {% endif %}
@@ -35,7 +35,7 @@ <h1 class="mb-4">User Profile</h1>
             Edit Profile
         </div>
         <div class="card-body">
-            <form action="{{ url_for('update_profile') }}" method="post">
+            <form action="{{ url_for('update_profile') }}" method="post" enctype="multipart/form-data">
                 <div class="mb-3">
                     <label for="name" class="form-label">Name</label>
                     <input type="text" class="form-control" id="name" name="name" value="{{ user.name }}">
@@ -45,8 +45,8 @@ <h1 class="mb-4">User Profile</h1>
                     <input type="email" class="form-control" id="email" name="email" value="{{ user.email }}">
                 </div>
                 <div class="mb-3">
-                    <label for="avatar_url" class="form-label">Avatar URL</label>
-                    <input type="url" class="form-control" id="avatar_url" name="avatar_url" value="{{ user.avatar_url }}">
+                    <label for="avatar_file" class="form-label">Avatar</label>
+                    <input type="file" class="form-control" id="avatar_file" name="avatar_file" accept="image/*">
                 </div>
                 <button type="submit" class="btn btn-primary">Save Changes</button>
             </form>
diff --git a/tests/test_user.py b/tests/test_user.py
index d6f42d0..674a1c1 100644
--- a/tests/test_user.py
+++ b/tests/test_user.py
@@ -13,7 +13,9 @@ def test_update_profile_unauthorized(unauth_client: TestClient):
         data={
             "name": "New Name",
             "email": "new@example.com",
-            "avatar_url": "https://example.com/avatar.jpg"
+        },
+        files={
+            "avatar_file": ("test_avatar.jpg", b"fake image data", "image/jpeg")
         },
         follow_redirects=False
     )
@@ -23,14 +25,40 @@ def test_update_profile_unauthorized(unauth_client: TestClient):
 
 def test_update_profile_authorized(auth_client: TestClient, test_user: User, session: Session):
     """Test that authorized users can edit their profile"""
-
+    
+    # Create test image data
+    test_image_data = b"fake image data"
+    
     # Update profile
     response: Response = auth_client.post(
         app.url_path_for("update_profile"),
         data={
             "name": "Updated Name",
             "email": "updated@example.com",
-            "avatar_url": "https://example.com/new-avatar.jpg"
+        },
+        files={
+            "avatar_file": ("test_avatar.jpg", test_image_data, "image/jpeg")
+        },
+        follow_redirects=False
+    )
+    assert response.status_code == 303
+    assert response.headers["location"] == app.url_path_for("read_profile")
+
+    # Verify changes in database
+    session.refresh(test_user)
+    assert test_user.name == "Updated Name"
+    assert test_user.email == "updated@example.com"
+    assert test_user.avatar_data == test_image_data
+    assert test_user.avatar_content_type == "image/jpeg"
+
+
+def test_update_profile_without_avatar(auth_client: TestClient, test_user: User, session: Session):
+    """Test that profile can be updated without changing the avatar"""
+    response: Response = auth_client.post(
+        app.url_path_for("update_profile"),
+        data={
+            "name": "Updated Name",
+            "email": "updated@example.com",
         },
         follow_redirects=False
     )
@@ -41,7 +69,6 @@ def test_update_profile_authorized(auth_client: TestClient, test_user: User, ses
     session.refresh(test_user)
     assert test_user.name == "Updated Name"
     assert test_user.email == "updated@example.com"
-    assert test_user.avatar_url == "https://example.com/new-avatar.jpg"
 
 
 def test_delete_account_unauthorized(unauth_client: TestClient):
@@ -62,7 +89,7 @@ def test_delete_account_wrong_password(auth_client: TestClient, test_user: User)
         data={"confirm_delete_password": "WrongPassword123!"},
         follow_redirects=False
     )
-    assert response.status_code == 400
+    assert response.status_code == 422
     assert "Password is incorrect" in response.text.strip()
 
 
@@ -81,3 +108,37 @@ def test_delete_account_success(auth_client: TestClient, test_user: User, sessio
     # Verify user is deleted from database
     user = session.get(User, test_user.id)
     assert user is None
+
+
+def test_get_avatar_authorized(auth_client: TestClient, test_user: User):
+    """Test getting user avatar"""
+    # First upload an avatar
+    test_image_data = b"fake image data"
+    auth_client.post(
+        app.url_path_for("update_profile"),
+        data={
+            "name": test_user.name,
+            "email": test_user.email,
+        },
+        files={
+            "avatar_file": ("test_avatar.jpg", test_image_data, "image/jpeg")
+        },
+    )
+
+    # Then try to retrieve it
+    response = auth_client.get(
+        app.url_path_for("get_avatar")
+    )
+    assert response.status_code == 200
+    assert response.content == test_image_data
+    assert response.headers["content-type"] == "image/jpeg"
+
+
+def test_get_avatar_unauthorized(unauth_client: TestClient):
+    """Test getting avatar for non-existent user"""
+    response = unauth_client.get(
+        app.url_path_for("get_avatar"),
+        follow_redirects=False
+    )
+    assert response.status_code == 303
+    assert response.headers["location"] == app.url_path_for("read_login")
diff --git a/utils/models.py b/utils/models.py
index 63d9ec2..29e468e 100644
--- a/utils/models.py
+++ b/utils/models.py
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@
 from typing import Optional, List, Union
 from fastapi import HTTPException
 from sqlmodel import SQLModel, Field, Relationship
-from sqlalchemy import Column, Enum as SQLAlchemyEnum
+from sqlalchemy import Column, Enum as SQLAlchemyEnum, LargeBinary
 from sqlalchemy.orm import Mapped
 
 logger = getLogger("uvicorn.error")
@@ -180,7 +180,9 @@ class User(SQLModel, table=True):
     id: Optional[int] = Field(default=None, primary_key=True)
     name: str
     email: str = Field(index=True, unique=True)
-    avatar_url: Optional[str] = None
+    avatar_data: Optional[bytes] = Field(
+        default=None, sa_column=Column(LargeBinary))
+    avatar_content_type: Optional[str] = None
     created_at: datetime = Field(default_factory=utc_time)
     updated_at: datetime = Field(default_factory=utc_time)