By Jene Luciani for Shape.com

You spend so much time trimming, shaping, buffing and painting your nails (or having someone else do all of that for you), but you probably dont spend much time looking at them bare. And that means you may be missing spots, stripes and odd colors that could indicate that something's up -- in a bad way -- with your body.

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While nothing replaces a visit to your physician for a proper diagnosis, checking your fingernails for the following abnormalities can help you spot early warning signs, so wipe off that polish and take a glance.