ya know, it seems very few things in this world can ever be known conclusively. Be this as it may, I'm pretty sure those metal pins are bad. How bad? Who knows? At the least, they are a foreign object inside the body. The body is designed to expel foreign objects, so the body may be trying, and trying, and trying, but these screws are screwed into the bone and not likely to come out without surgery. One never knows how the future may change one's decisions but as it is right now, I do not anticipate electing to have the surgery.