diff --git a/sql.go b/sql.go
index 2d7679e..98b23aa 100644
--- a/sql.go
+++ b/sql.go
@@ -24,14 +24,22 @@ func (uuid *UUID) Scan(src interface{}) error {
 
 		*uuid = parsed
 	case []byte:
-		// assumes a simple slice of bytes, just check validity and store
-		u := UUID(src.([]byte))
+		b := src.([]byte)
 
-		if u.Variant() == Invalid {
-			return errors.New("Scan: invalid UUID format")
+		// assumes a simple slice of bytes if 16 bytes
+		// otherwise attempts to parse
+		if len(b) == 16 {
+			*uuid = UUID(b)
+		} else {
+			u := Parse(string(b))
+
+			if u == nil {
+				return errors.New("Scan: invalid UUID format")
+			}
+
+			*uuid = u
 		}
 
-		*uuid = u
 	default:
 		return fmt.Errorf("Scan: unable to scan type %T into UUID", src)
 	}
diff --git a/sql_test.go b/sql_test.go
index d643567..83bac8c 100644
--- a/sql_test.go
+++ b/sql_test.go
@@ -22,6 +22,11 @@ func TestScan(t *testing.T) {
 		t.Fatal(err)
 	}
 
+	err = (&uuid).Scan([]byte(stringTest))
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+
 	err = (&uuid).Scan(byteTest)
 	if err != nil {
 		t.Fatal(err)