Temporary blindness when wake up

I have a friend in India who has asked me to look into a problem he is having with his eyes.

When he wakes up most mornings he is completely blind (black vision) in both eyes for about 10 minutes. He has a burning sensation in his eyes. his sight only returns when he washes his eyes, and it takes about 10 minutes to come back. he has had very watery eyes and a burning sensation for most of the time for about 2 and a half years.

He went to an eye specialist in Delhi recently and was told that he was short-sighted but the doctor wanted him to have a brain x-ray to determine the cause of these symptoms. He cant afford to have the x-ray at the moment, and isn't sure it is necessary (doctors in Delhi are notorious for recommending unnecessary, expensive treatments). Any ideas what the cause of this could be and what he should do about it?

Thanks, Lucy

[Ray T Oyakawa, MD]

This can be is a serious problem.  He really needs to see an ophthalmologist.

Dr. O.

[lucylooooo]

thanks. he has just been told he has a minor brain tumour. the doctor has said that it's treatable, but i dont know what this will involve.

[lucylooooo]

Does the diagnosis of a brain tumor make sense? Would a brain tumor cause temporary blindness? surely if the cause of the blindness symptoms is the tumor putting pressure on the optic nerve, the blindness would be constant? can a tumor explain the burning and over-watering eye symptoms? thanks for your help.