Squamous skin cancer not only occurs due to sun, but also due to smoking in women, revealed the Journal Cancer Causes Control published research, which took place at two places, the Moffitt Cancer Center and the University of South Florida.

Smoking does not become reason for squamous skin cancer in men due to unknown reasons, said lead author Dana Rollison. It is suspected that hormonal difference could be the main reason behind this gender bias.

Those women who are into smoking for more than 20 years are said to have double risk of being diagnosed with squamous cancer which is little less lethal than melanoma cancer. In order to reach at above consequences, an experiment was being conducted in which 383 skin cancer patients were taken and other 315 people were also enrolled so comparative analysis could be done. All the enrolled participants were asked about their smoking habits, such as by what age they started smoking and how much they used to smoke earlier and how much they do now.

It was revealed that increased smoking habit would make them vulnerable to skin cancer. Rollison said though they have found link between smoking and skin cancer, they yet have to know about its cause and effects.

Squamous skin cancer is one of the common skin cancers in the US as more than two million Americans are being treated for it, revealed the U. S. National Institutes of Health. Giving information of this cancer, Rollison said it occurs on the top layer of skin and then gradually it spreads to other organs.

Associate Clinical Professor of Dermatology at Yale University Medical School, Dr. Jeffrey Dover, said, "Although it could just be a genetic difference (between men and women), men tend to have more unprotected sun exposure in their lives”.