1. A method for diagnosing a keratoconic cornea in an eye of a patient, prior to onset of keratoconus, which comprises the steps of: providing an electronic model of a cornea, wherein the model includes a first plurality of elements representing Bowman's membrane in the cornea, and a second plurality of elements representing the stroma in the cornea, and wherein each element in the model is defined by a plurality of parameters, with each parameter being representative of tissue qualities in the cornea at the corresponding location of the element in the model; mapping a topography of the anterior surface of the cornea “T a ”; pressurizing the eye during the mapping step; fitting the topography “T a ” to the model to obtain a set of parameters for the plurality of elements; and evaluating the set of parameters to diagnose whether the cornea is keratoconic.