1. A surgical navigation system comprising: a camera attached in a fixed position to a patient with a non-invasive attachment mechanism, wherein the camera has a field of view; a surgical tool having a tip and including a tracking element readable by the camera, wherein the tracking element comprises one or more optical navigation markers, and wherein the tracking element is attached to the surgical tool such that the one or more optical navigation markers are oriented facing toward the tip of the surgical tool; a computer processing unit comprising means for recognizing the tracking element in an image obtained by the camera and means for tracking the position of the surgical tool; and a communication link adapted to transmit images from the camera to the computer processing unit; wherein the field of view of the camera is pointing away from the patient.