Shock new figures have put a dollar figure on what one of the most preventable diseases is costing the country.
Research for the Cancer Society puts the cost of skin cancer to New Zealand at $123,000,000 a year.
Treatment costs the health system more than $57 million.
The other $66 million is calculated from the loss of life and income.
Des O'Dea of the Wellington School of Medicine says it is needless, because most skin cancer is avoidable.
He says while skin cancers usually appear in old age, the damage is often done when people are much younger.
The Cancer Society says the figures show how important it is to spend more on prevention.
New Zealand has the world's highest death rate rate from skin cancer.
