Can pins be removed without pain?

What kind of pins?

My wife had a finger broken off when she was run over and they put in pins to align the bones. After a day or two one of them was coming out so she called the hospital about it. They told her to just pull it out and come in to see her doctor the next day. She wasn't up to doing that herself so she stuck her hand under my nose and said pull it out. It didn't hurt when I pulled it but it felt kind of funny, almost like tickling.