c section question

okay so i'm almost 12 days PP i had to have an emergency c section and i was wondering if i should take off the steri strips (the tape) its kind of dirty my mom and bf keep trying to tell me to take them off and when i tried it hurt so i stopped. but i'm just wondering because i thought i heard one of my nurses tell me to leave them on as long as possible. but i was on tons of medications so i wouldn't know if that's correct. so sre they okay on there?