You can use a small needle-nose pliers - stick the tips under the staple & spread, then grasp the staples w/ the jaws & wiggle it back & forth - they will come out ( a but deformed compared w/ the normal extractor), although it hurts a little more than the staple remover. I use a small hemostat in the OR to remove them (we occasionally use them to hold the sterile drapes to the patient).