Exposure to sun appears to impact more on the skin of males than females.

Researchers at the Ohio State University in Columbus exposed a breed of hairless mice to ultraviolet rays from a sun lamp.

According to online edition of health magazine WebMD, The mice underwent eight- to 10-minute tanning sessions three times a week for six months. That was enough to give both male and female mice skin cancer.

"We found males got skin tumours earlier, got more of them, and more of the tumours were severe," assistant professor Tatiana M. Oberyszyn was quoted as saying.

The researchers are now looking at human skin to see if men really are like mice.

Previous studies have shown that there's a huge difference between men's skin and women's skin. Men are more likely to get skin cancer than women.