Con el information_schema lo puedes hacer.
Código sql:
Ver originalmysql> DESC persona;
+---------------+-------------+------+-----+---------+----------------+
| FIELD | TYPE | NULL | KEY | DEFAULT | Extra |
+---------------+-------------+------+-----+---------+----------------+
| id_persona | INT(9) | NO | PRI | NULL | AUTO_INCREMENT |
| nombre | VARCHAR(20) | NO | | | |
| sexo | VARCHAR(9) | NO | | | |
| id_expediente | INT(9) | NO | | | |
+---------------+-------------+------+-----+---------+----------------+
4 ROWS IN SET (0.05 sec)
mysql> SELECT column_name FROM information_schema.COLUMNS WHERE TABLE_NAME='persona' AND column_name='nombres';
Empty SET (0.00 sec)
mysql> SELECT column_name FROM information_schema.COLUMNS WHERE TABLE_NAME='persona' AND column_name='nombre';
+-------------+
| column_name |
+-------------+
| nombre |
+-------------+
1 ROW IN SET (0.00 sec)
mysql>
Como ves, la columna nombres no existe, pero la columna nombre si existe.